


Under the Rabbit's Moon

by Vesperchan



Category: Naruto
Genre: BAMF Sakura, F/M, I mean it when I said the slowest of slow burns, Multi, Sakura eats a god, Sakura is left behind, Sakura time-skip back to the warring era and then the founding era, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Team 7 does not survive, This isn't one of those, Time Travel, You know those timetravel fics, and skips to another universe, but it reads like one, eventual poly - Freeform, founding era, ot?, the slowest of slow burns, time skip, warring era
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 00:39:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 38
Words: 193,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14390481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vesperchan/pseuds/Vesperchan
Summary: Left out of the happy ending won with the death of Team 7, Sakura's vengeance on Kaguya results in conditions she never expected. Sent back to the past in a different world, Sakura finds herself in the warring era with the power to finally do something momentous, but only at a cost. 'What are you willing to give up for godhood, mortal'





	1. Chapter 1

Their story did not have a happy ending. Happy endings were endings, the finishing of things. Their story cycled into the hibernation of another ancient pattern doomed to be repeated in a later generation. Her boys died to save the world and all it had achieved was a handful of years meant for peace.

But it was peace, and hoards of people were too tired and too lost and too broken to believe it was anything less than what they had been fighting and dying for all along. The fatherless drank deep cups of sake in a shared tent and sang until they couldn't feel the tears on their face anymore.

To them it was enough.

Not for her.

Sakura felt cursed with her inability to let go and see the resolution to their conflict as anything less than what it was. She couldn't lie to her self, (though she tried), and believe things were okay. No, her boys were dead and that force was not yet defeated. Their last, best hope hadn't been enough to lay the moon goddess to rest for good. The mother of all chakra still remained, but Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi were all gone.

She was alone, and that was why she dug through the ancient tree, peeling back bark and acid sap and carving out chunks of the innermost wood before reaching the nub of gelatin like coating that housed the immortal. Sakura's body was decaying fast, burning down to bones, but she peeled it back and broke the pod open, yin seal blow wide and glowing.

''You hope to kill me?'' Kaguya's voice was a mournful echo between Sakura's ears. "Ah, if only you could. There must always be a cursed one. That is the price of things. Magic, chakra, power…it isn't free. Don't you know that silly child?''

Sakura screamed, feeling her face burn as the seal spread out lines of iridescent purple thicker and thicker across her body. She was dying and being reborn all at once, but it wouldn't last forever. She would run out of chakra and die soon enough and no one would be around to find her body. No one dared come close to the sacred tree, not after they saw what it had done at the last battle. Too many people remembered being a part of it, of being sucked dry by it.

"I'm taking you with me," Sakura grunted through clenched teeth.

The woman's voice tinkled like a bell. "Will you do it? Will you free me from this curse?"

Suddenly, it was more than just a voice between Sakura's ears. She saw the moon goddess standing in the darkness, her skin ash white and eyes as wide and ancient as the surface as the moon reflected across a still ocean. Sakura's mental defenses sprang up in response, strong and faster from all those years of developing a second persona. Mental hands reached for the mental moon goddess, but froze just shy of squeezing her to death.

"I'll give you what you want if you can take it from me,'"Kaguya intoned, closing her pearl colored eyes and opening the slit on her brow to show a spinning third eye, patterned with the sharingan.

Sakura's body was nearly gone, approaching the point of no return as the acid burned faster and harsher than ever. In her mind she fought against the woman, but in the real world she was paralyzed. It wasn't unexpected. Sasuke and Naruto had been powerless when they teamed up alongside Kakashi. What made her think she would be enough?

"But you are. They were going about it the wrong way," Kaguya cried.

Sakura screamed, feeling the pain of her physical body give her the last mental boost needed to finish closing her fists and squeezing the woman out of existence. Kaguya was gone in a cloud of shimmering moon dust and Sakura collapsed, knowing her body wasn't going to last more than a minute.

'That's fine. I'll see them again,' she thought, closing her eyes.

In the back of her mind she felt cold fingers run patterns through her thoughts. There was a tinkling of bells and womanish laughter. "Yes, you will."

That had been three years ago.

* * *

Sakura makes it a game to guess the ages of the children who dare each other to pass into her hedge garden, a place she's tended to with the intention of making it a place for healing the sick and tending to the injured. It just so happened that too many of the men and women she restored took to repaying her with cultivating the land into a zen garden surrounded by intricately trimmed hedges. It makes it easy for her to develop a genjutsu on the hedges that keep out intruders.

Children too young to see through her illusion wander until they are tired and give up or fall asleep in the cooling shade. More than once she's had to carry out sleeping children, proving further stories of horror and terror.

There is a boy today too young to be much older than five or six with ashen blond hair, stumbling around, trying to get through. Sakura recognizes him as one of the boys she has had to carry out. Admittedly she found him cute with wide eyes and a face full of soft baby fat too innocent and too young for the leg guards and gauntlets he already sported.

When he falls asleep under one of the hedges Sakura stops just outside the reach of the hedge's shade and wonders if she shouldn't just keep him to herself, protect him from the fighting she knows is happening not too far away in a land she has no interest in.

She kneels, loose pants brushing the soft grass as her knees touch down. His mouth is open and drooling onto his arm as his legs stretch out in sleep. He is content where he lies, he feels comfortable in the shade and it nearly breaks her heart. Nearly.

Sakura reaches out and brushes the hair from his face and he closes his mouth, tasting breath before opening it again. He doesn't wake when she lifts him up in her arms and holds him close. Carrying him is easy.

It's warm out, but his skin is cool like the shade, reminding her of the changing seasons. She figures if she is in the world she thinks she's in, it's her own world a few hundred years ago. The tools and clothing are too dated and crude for even the more backwater places. The manner of speak is also different, the dialects reflect an older, more proper time with rigid social casts and titles. Sakura knows she is in the past, but is it her past?

"I'll give you what you want if you can take it from me."

The memory of the voice almost makes her stop walking, but Sakura doesn't even falter anymore when she hears those words. She hadn't made sense. What Sakura wanted was Naruto, Kakashi, and Sasuke back along with all her friends, but mostly just her boys. She wanted her family back, but instead she was sent here, to a long ago place that likely isn't even in the same dimension. (Time travel did that. )

Sakura finds a shaded spot far away from her hedges and lays the boy down by the roots of the tree. He seems at peace there. When he yawns and turns over he feels the rough of the tree and curls into it. Sakura knows one of his friends or relatives will find him here soon. Someone always comes to claim this one.

Sakura waits and watches. An hour later another little boy with two toned hair finds her sleeping intruder and begins to kick him awake in playful anger. The ashen haired child rouses on a groan and catches the offending foot before the two of them roll together into a mess of wrestling limbs.

Sakura leaves before she can see any more, but this time at least she learned the child's name.  _Kawarama,_ and his brother's name had been  _Itama_.

The next time Kawarama came back he was alone and doing a good job of weaving through her genjutsu. If it had been a weaker illusion he might have dispelled it with his first shout of 'Kai.' Sakura chuckled when she heard his voice crack.

Watching him became a sport. He trespassed at least once a week and nearly every other time he would fall asleep in the hedges. Sakura hated to admit she looked forward to his visits, even if they never interacted. It had gotten to the point where she recognized his chakra signature and could feel him from a ways off.

Her hands were bloody when she felt him approaching. Removing her fingers from the incision Sakura replaced them with a metal clamp that pulled the infected tissue mass out. Her hands then glowed green to seal the opening with practiced ease. The woman's husband watched Sakura work with eyes wide with wonder. Surgery is still such a far off thing for this time period, she doubts he's even heard of it before.

"He'll be just fine after this, but no heavy foods. Soups and then rice, he'll need to rest to regain his lost strength so don't overwork him. You're welcome to stay here until then, take a hut for yourself," Sakura said, sweeping a bloody hand out behind her to show off the row of grown houses meant for providing shelter to the sick and recovering.

"Truly?" the woman breathed in wonder.

"Of course. You make no trouble with those you meet her and you will find no such trouble. Those are my rules."

The woman bowed her head, eyes downcast. "You are a blessing."

The low bow made Sakura feel odd, so she looked away and hummed before taking her leave.

It took a few weeks, but after first coming back Sakura realized she wasn't physically the same person she had been before the incident. A quick medical diagnostic showed an intricate path work of bolstered chakra pathways stemming from her Yin seal, only her Yin seal was supposed to be empty and no longer a part of her physiology. The war had drained her in ways more than one. Instead of her seal, something else pulsated there.

 _"Will you free me from this curse?"_  Kaguya had said, only for Sakura to understand much later on.

A part of Sakura had been transformed by the goddess' cells. She felt it in her cells, how they refused to age, in her eyes, how the seemed to see so much further now, on her forehead where a seam one day appeared, only to open and show Sakura what it felt like to view the world through a third eye.

That had been a fun migraine to get over.

Sakura hadn't opened the eye since first discovering it, bandaging it over with cloth and pretending she was fine for it. The other things were easier to deal with, like Kaguya's own form of earth release and gravity manipulation. Sakura could do some of those things, but the drain on her chakra reserves was substantial, even  _if_  her reserves were tripled. She suddenly had so much new power, but she didn't have the body to manipulate it well. She stayed away from most new jutsu and did her best to forget she was any changed at all.

Still, the wood release helped her make so many houses, even if they were ugly and rough in parts. That was something she could use. The rest of her was violence and Sakura swore to never fall into that lifestyle again. She would use her gifts to help and heal, the world of bloodshed was done with her, like it or not.

"That boy is here again, sensei."

Sakura turned and saw one of the in training medics that lived inside the garden. Sakura mentored them when she could and tutored them as they needed it. She never asked for clan names or affiliations when they came, but took on anyone who swore they would get along and treat everyone equally, regardless of clan loyalties.

"I will see him out then. Thank you for letting me know, Aoi." Sakura reached for a cloth next to the pitcher of still warm water and wiped her hands clean.

"You're quite tolerant with him."

"I am allowed weaknesses," Sakura huffed, running a hand through her short bangs before heading off.

By the time she reached the hedges he was already sleeping under a different bunch. Just as peaceful looking as before, Sakura waited a long moment before reaching for him, hesitant to alter the image she watched.

The moment her hand touch his shoulder Kawarama's eyes went wide. Instead of running or scurrying away he launched himself forward, landing on her arm and wrapping himself around it.

"Got you!" he cried. "I caught you, you're trapped."

His statement wasn't entirely true, but Sakura felt too stunned by the turn of events to do anything other than stay frozen in his grip. He was smiling up at her with wide eyes and a wider smile. Sakura felt her ears burn. "Y-you tricked me," she stammered, trying to remember how she should behave in such a situation.

"I caught you, so now you have to tell me your name."

"Is that it?" he nodded cutely at her answer. When Sakura groaned, already feeling like she was powerless, he only grinned harder. "What if I don't want to tell you?"

"You have to! I caught you, it's the rule. It's what ninja do. You have to spill all your secrets."

"Aren't you a little short for a ninja?" Sakura asked, standing up and dragging him with her. He held on fast to her arm, more persistent than a spider monkey.

At her accusation his cheeks inflated and his eyes narrowed. "I'm not short. Itame is almost my same size!"

"He's short too, I've seen him before. He's the crazy kid that can't make up his mind what color hair he wants."

"Th-that's not his fault!" He readjusted himself on her arm, beginning to slip. "Besides, I'm already a ninja. I've watched battles and in a few months I'll be able to join them."

Sakura felt cold dread travel down her spine. He was so young, small enough that he fit on her arm and he was going to go out onto the battlefields. There was no modest war in this time. The people that came back to her for help came back in pieces. He was too small. He was going to die.

_Just like everyone else…._

"You won't be going anywhere trapped on my arm like that. Eventually you're going to fall off."

"I won't."

"Oh?" Sakura hummed, starting to shake her arm. He squeezed it so tightly she felt the skin under his hands grow tight. His face was one of pure determination. "What if I shook harder."

"Noooo, you're trapped. You need to tell me your name. You're not supposed to shake me off."

"How old are you?" Sakura bent her arm, drawing his face closer. She didn't miss the way he shrank from her gaze.

"I'm five. I'll be six soon. The-then I can join my brothers."

"What about your mother?"

"Dead." The answer came quickly and was so matter of fact that Sakura wondered if the woman died in childbirth, leaving Kawarama with no memory of the woman. Such a fate wasn't rare for women. They died in their beds all the time.

"Ah," Sakura's voice was a single note in the wind. "Then there is nothing I can do about you." Sakura lowered her arm but still the boy held tight, like a desperate monkey. "You're going to have to come home with me."

She heard him hiss out a secretive cry of 'yessss' under his breath as he buried his face in her sleeve but ignored it. When she got back to her lands she went straight to her personal tent to shake him off her arm for good and land him on her bed. He had put up a good effort, but Sakura's actions were sharp and he landed on the best of her pillows, settling down safely.

Sakura fisted her hands on her hips and stared down as the adorably innocent looking child. There was no room for war in him. She could see clearly, that if he joined any battle anytime soon it would be the last thing he did. Death was in his youth.

"If you're going to stay here you're going to have to be useful, at least until your brother comes looking for you. Do you know what it is I do here?"

"You take people and eat them!"

Sakura flinched, not knowing if he was serious or just joking. "No, that's the opposite of what I do."

His face is wide and open as he turns his head to one side and watches her with innocent eyes. "You steal their food?"

"What, no? Who gave you that idea? I don't do anything like that here. You think I look like a person who would do that?"

"Yeah."

Sakura wanted to slap herself in the face. He was far too, brutally honest. "I don't know if I want to hear what made you think such a thing, but you're wrong, regardless. I don't do anything like that here. In this garden, in my lands, people who are sick get treated. I heal people. That's my occupation. Like, you're a ninja…" When he nodded she pressed on. "I'm a healer. Understand?"

"We have one of those, but she's old…older than you. You must not be very good. Do you use chakra? Someone said it was possible you could! Can you really do it? If you can you're a ninja," he laughed, bouncing on her bed a bit.

"Of course I can do such a thing," Sakura scoffed, not pretending to be modest for the child.

She knew most people who healed did so using the old ways. Chakra was a battle element, it had no place in the healing tents like back in Sakura's time. Aside from Sakura, she doubted there were more than five people alive in the world who knew how to use chakra to heal. It was one of the reasons why the first Hokage had been such a legendary figure. He had no need of a healer like all the others in his battalion.

"Come with me, little bean," Sakura sighed, letting her hands drop to her side as she turned to lead the way out of her house and into the main area of her garden. When she turned to look behind her the child was following close. "Tell me your name again, kid."

"I like little bean, so you can call me little bean," he laughed, thinking it so funny she couldn't remember his name. "What do I call you. I caught you so you have to tell me more of your secrets, like your name."

"You didn't-uh, never mind. My name is Haruno Sakura."

"Sakura chan!"

Sakura frowned. "That's awfully familiar," she said. ' _And a little too much like what I'm used to_.' A flash of Naruto made her heart hurt.

"You can just call me Haruno san for now."

"Show me your home, Sakura chan!" he cried. Kawarama tugged on her arm and pointed towards the odd looking houses that Sakura had grown herself over the course of a couple of months. They were shoddy and rough. "What are those for?"

"Sick people rest in those until they can leave or work."

"Where did they come from?"

She squinted at the houses, too embarassed to admit to actually growing them herself with jutsu. They really were such ugly things. "I…built them."

"All by yourself? Where is your family?"

"I don't have a family here. I came to this place on my own after they died," Sakura explained in a detached voice, thinking of Naruto and Team 7 when she should have been thinking about her parents. Both her mother and father had died some time back, but it was her team she thought of when she heard the word family. Team 7 was dead. They were gone, so her family had died.

"What about your brothers?"

"I don't have those." Sasuke and Sai and Naruto were running through her memories, straight through the light and into the maw of destruction where she could not follow. Sakura swallowed before adding, "Not anymore."

"I guess that happens. Sorry. My brothers are stronger than anyone, so they won't die though. You can share mine with me. We don't have a sister or a mom so it could be fun."

"I don't think I'm old enough to be your mother," Sakura laughed, remembering she was still not even twenty. Or maybe she was. Maybe she had been here longer than she imagianed. She didn't keep track of such things. Has it been two weeks or two years? "And I'm content here on my own. I don't need things like a family anymore."

Kawarama scrunches up his nose with a thought but then he grabs his stomach and frowns. Sakura watches as his lower lip quivers as he refuses to say anything. Seconds later the rumbling turns audible. He flushes a cute pink color and Sakura laughs, making the blush darken. Still, he looks down and refuses to ask for food.

"I have plenty of meal to spare, come with me, you'll make your own from what we grow in the gardens."

"I-I'm not supposed to take food from a stranger." Still, he follows when she begins to walk away.

"Many say that when they come here, so I won't force you to eat anything I make. All the same, if you harvest the food yourself than it's not food from me, is it?" He ducks his head lower and walks close to her side, making her think of him like a scolded dog before adding additional reassurance. "And I really owe you a treat anyway, since you've captured me. It's only fair."

That seemed to work and feeding him became infinitely less challenging once he believed he had earned his own food. It was nearly twilight when one of the patients came to her to let Sakura know that he had sensed a child not far from the garden borders. He was a sensor type that insisted on staying in her garden until his debt was paid off along with his newly recovered son. Kawarama was bragging about something to the man's son and didn't overhear the adults hushed conversation.

Sakura rose from where she sat at the outside table and nodded in understanding. "Kawarama," she called out. Immediately the boy dropped his hands from the air and turned his face up to meet her, eyes wide. "It's time you went home. I think your brother is here for you."

"Ah, Sakura sama," the sensor ninja interjected. "There are two others that just approached as well. There are a total of three now."

"Those are all my brothers!" Kawarama exclaimed, jumping up to stand on the seat of his chair and raise his hands high as fists. "They all came to try and find me." He jumps down and then freezes. When he looks up his face is ashen. "Is dad with them?"

Sakura looks back at the sensor nin and he shakes his head. "No," Sakura says.

Kawarama breathes a sigh of relief. "I'm not in trouble then."

The grin returned and he followed Sakura to the edge of her garden and happily continued on his own until he noticed she had stopped. When he turned around she was smiling and waving.

"This is as far as I will go. Stay safe with your brothers."

"You're not going to meet them?" Not far off there is a voice calling for Kawarama.

"Not today."

Sakura smiles and waves her hand, sealing back up the genjutsu. She sees the moment she becomes invisible to him right before he stumbles back, dizzy and confused.

"Maybe another day."


	2. Chapter 2

**Under the Rabbit Moon II**

* * *

Their story did not have a happy ending. Happy endings were endings, the finishing of things. Their story cycled into the hibernation of another ancient pattern doomed to be repeated in a later generation. Her boys died to save the world and all it had achieved was a handful of years meant for peace.

* * *

Her next unsolicited invader wasn't another Senju boy, but surprisingly it was one of the Uchiha's brood. Not nearly as young as Kawarama, the older Uchiha child was able to see through her first genjutsu with no problem, and even managed to dismantle her second layer of illusion. Sakura held herself back from the third layer, watching to see if he would catch it.

He didn't, and it was with much snickering that Sakura helped herself to the snoring child who looked pretty enough to put on a coin.

"Careful, Sakura sama, at this rate you're going to want your own if you keep collecting little boys from the bushes," one of the sentry nin volunteers teased her.

"Why would I want that when they just seem to grow on trees? I can pick them off whenever I want." Sakura cradled the child in her arms, noting his weight was greater than Kawarama's and his body was more developed. He looked so much like Sasuke when he was that age.

Sakura couldn't help it. She didn't want to let this one go.

There was a stream that fed into her camp from the mountains, and along the way there was a pleasant sort of bend that Sakura liked to visit when she needed to leave her settlement behind and pretend she didn't hid herself in layers of genjutsu just to be safe while she waited to find some direction in life.

It was at this same river bend that Sakura sat down to figure out exactly how many years it had been sine she ripped open the moon goddess's chrysalis and cheated death. That had been three years and eight months ago, making her older than she first figured.

It was also at this same river bend that Sakura felt safe enough to stretch her limits and find how far she could take the stolen power before it snapped back on her like a rubber band.

There was a well of new potential in her, but Sakura still had the same limits of chakra. Many of the things she now had the ability to do, were beyond her practical control because they used too much chakra. She had so little to spare in comparison to people like Naruto or Sasuke. Yeah, her control was perfect, but her potential was limited.

Sakura found her favorite spot and set Izuna down against a tree's trunk. He mumbled something in his sleep that sounded like his brother's name and it was cute enough to make her giggle. He really did remind her of Sasuke and she wondered if it was a unique Uchiha trait for younger brothers to worship their elder brothers. Just like Sasuke.

Discarding her sandals and hiking up her simple cloth kimono Sakura waded into the water. It lapped at her knees and she could almost touch it with her fingertips without bending down. It was cool on her skin.

In the quiet Sakura pooled chakra into her eyes and looked down at herself in the water. Her reflection was warped as she looked through what she thought were seven different layers of colored glass. The world was a mess and she blinked, tearing up and staggering before her vision focused. She felt herself emptying as she struggled to maintain the mutation of two Rinnegan. A cold sweat broke out and then sakura felt her limit come up and the swirling purple light fled her eyes in a flash of what felt like knives.

Sakura cursed, wiping her face with shaking hands, once dipped into the waters. Too much, it was too much. She had only maintained the Rinnegan for a maximum of nineteen seconds, and the first few seconds were blurry and unfocused as her physical eyes went through the mutation. Her body wasn't suited to it. She was living in stolen power, after all.

'It's too bad you're so stupid, but thank god you're compatible.'

Sakura froze and swore the water shifted into ice around. She turned sharply in the water, searching for the voice, hating how much it sounded like her inner self from so many years ago.

'Who was that?' Sakura screamed inside her mind as she turned slowly and looked over her surroundings with a ninja's eye. The Uchiha boy was still out like a light by the tree, breathing easy. As she turned the surface of the water rippled.

'It's been a long time since we've talked. Feeling lost?'

Sakura stepped back and looked down at her reflection in the water. She was staring down at herself, but her reflection was a body of black, outlined in white with the familiar markings tattooed across the forehead. Inner cooed and blew a fake kiss.

'What is this?' Sakura seethed in mental frustration, falling too easily back into the inner banter she was once so fluid in. She knew how to talk to herself. 'What are you doing here?'

'Keeping you from killing yourself, obviously. You're going to end up dying an immortal's death if you keep trying to summon those eyes. You don't like to try anything small, do you? Really, out of all the stupid eyes you just had to want the hardest.'

'It grants the user the most power, and it's the most useful.'

'Yeah, and you need it? Look around, cupcake, you're in the boonies living the life of a hermit. What you gonna do? Summon a demon fox to cuddle on lonely nights? You're pathetic.'

'You're insulting yourself.'

'It's my job, remember. I'm  _you_. I'm your will. I'm here to make you the best you that you could possibly be. Also, it just hurts to watch you be so stupid.'

Sakura felt her cheeks burn, knowing that she was both right and wrong. 'What did I do that was so stupid, huh?'

'You can't use the Rinnegan in your eyes, stupid. They're not genetically compatible.'

'I don't need that. Kaguya gave me this chakra power. I'm like Naruto and Sasuke were. I can just magically-'

'Don't lie to yourself, you're lying to me. You're not like either of those two and you know it.'

Sakura staggered back in the water, back until the backs of her legs hit a bank of rocks. She pulled herself up and let her legs dangle in the water. She hated how her reflection followed. She wanted to run away from the water, but she knew she couldn't. She knew she had to stay and listen to the end.

'How am I different?' Sakura asked after a long time, her voice nearly cracking.

'Heritage. They have the DNA that allows them to adapt those skills. You know this. It may seem like magic, but I know you remember hearing about this back when Naruto and Sasuke fought her.'

'But I can use it.'

Inner just sent Sakura a look and it was enough to remind Sakura that she was arguing with herself. There was no point in lying. It would not end well.

"What do I do?" she asked out loud, not caring if it was an unnecessary action. She wanted to voice her worry.

'What do you want? You really want to use the Rinnegan out of all the available abilities? What about the wood controlling? What about that third eye you're keeping closed up behind your Yin seal? Those would be easier to manage.'

'I want to do this.'

'Why?'

Sakura truly didn't know, and that was likely why Inner was asking. 'I'm not a Hyuga or an Uchiha, those eyes are meant for them, but I feel like I could claim this Rinnegan for myself. It's not so vividly linked in my memories to the boy who died for his cousin or the teammate who was killed next to me.'

Inner is silent for a moment before shifting in the water. There are no ripples, she is only a manifestation of illusion from Sakura's will.

'The Rinnegan grants the wielder a wide range of abilities without any known chakra requirement to keep the eyes active. Certain abilities are only available to the original owner of the dōjutsu, but possession of even a single transplanted Rinnegan can grant overwhelming power, you just can't manage it with eyes that aren't compatible.'

'You haven't told me anything new.'

Inner sighed, looking exhausted. 'You're going to have to manipulate the genetic foundation of your eyes or cultivate new ones, like, maybe in your hands or something. I've seen that done.'

And it was weird because  _Sakura_  had never seen that done. Only Deidara of the Akatsuki had an ability where on his palms he had mouths that could mold clay and infuse them with explosives. But Sakura had never seen anyone with eyes on their hands.

'It's not one of your memories, but one of Kaguya's memories,' Inner explained. 'It's also how I know so much more than you.'

Sakura felt the truth of it, but turned her mind away from those moon colored feelings that hid deep inside her. Kaguya had put so much of herself into Sakura. Since waking up, Sakura had done all she could to cut away the woman's influence and block out as much as she could.

'What is the memory of?' Sakura asked after a while.

'It's this guy who had eyes on the palms of his hands. He was born with the genetic mutation, but manipulating the base makeup of an eye from nothing is easier than transforming the subpar eyes you already have.'

'Yeah, that sounds super easy.'

'You can hold the Rinnegan for nineteen seconds. That can be enough time to make something out of nothing.'

Inner pushed forward into Sakura's mind and she felt the pressure of a thought puncture her mental identity. She saw a man she recognized as the sage of six paths forming a world between his hands. It was unsettling and unnerving, but Sakura managed.

'By using his Yang chakra, the essence of physical energy, along with his Yin chakra, the essence of spiritual energy, Hagoromo had the ability to create form from nothingness with a mere thought to bring it to life. Guess who's already a master of Yin and Yang chakra.'

Sakura felt the pressure on her forehead and for once was confident it was from her seal and not the third eye that slept behind her seal. Yin and Yang chakra…her natural affinities were for earth and water, but under the training of Tsunade she had studied, trained in, and mastered both Yin and Yang chakra, becoming one of the few people alive to do so. Or at least, at the time she had been. In this odd day and age Sakura didn't know who could do what. She was so out of it.

'Let me think.'

Sakura pulled her legs up under her and sat in a lotus position, not caring it it was improper as long as she wore a kimono. The Uchiha boy was dead asleep behind her and she was alone. Her brain was a vice of memory and she drowned in it, mixing theory with recall.

"Creation Rebirth," she said out loud after a long while.

Tsunade's legendary jutsu would create the conditions so that the body's cell division is forcibly stimulated by proteins, reconstructing all organs and all tissues making up the human body. However, when combined with the Creation of All Things Technique, she could stimulate growth from a single cell in both palms.

In addition to that, the Creation of All Things Technique would eliminate the only known downside to creation rebirth. She wouldn't have to fear splitting her own cells so often because she could generate new ones, effectively rendering her-

"Uuuugh."

Sakura startled, not used to the sound of another human. She turned quickly, sliding backwards on the rocks and into the water on a startled shout. Even though it wasn't deep, Sakura's standing was shaky and she felt her ankles twist and lift in the riverbed, sending the rest of her into the water with a cry of complaint.

"Are you okay?"

Sakura looked up at the concerned face of a Sasuke Uchiha look alike and nearly whimpered. She felt her face flush and she almost reached up to hide her blazing cheeks before remembering that this wasn't Sasuke and she wasn't the little girl who once was so head over heels for the loner Uchiha. Also, she was the adult and he was the child. Who cares if she slipped a little?

"I-I'm okay. I just was startled. I heard you wake up after so much quiet."

Sakura grabbed the edge of the rock outcropping and started to pull herself up. Her kimono clung to her in weighted chunks. She didn't doubt she looked miserable.

"I am sorry. I do not recall falling asleep in this area." He looked away from her to take another glance about his surroundings.

"Yeah, I almost didn't see you when I came by this way. Sorry, did I wake you?" Sakura lied.

She didn't look too out of place. She could pass as a simple town girl doing chores. One good thing about the misogyny in the old ages was no one suspected women of much. He wouldn't think much of her.

"No." He blinked, looking her over once more. "Who are you? I've never seen you before."

Sakura huffed and fisted her hands over her hips. "Wow, you're rude. I'm the one who lives in this area, little boy. You're the one I've never seen around here. This here is my favorite creek. I do plenty of my chores here and I've never noticed a kid before. What's your name anyway?"

The Uchiha puffed up and seemed to hold himself with dignity as he stared down at her from the ledge. "I'm an Uchiha, woman. I am the noble son of the main family, Uchiha Izuna. Who are you?"

"Sakura." She smiled and spoke so innocently. "You're pretty young to be out by yourself. Your mom or dad around? Maybe an older brother or something?"

Izuna flushed. "I'm old enough to fight. I'm a ninja in my father's company. Don't treat me like a child."

"You are a child." Sakura folded her arms in front of her chest and kept smiling, enjoying the way Sasuke Lookalike Izuna Uchiha flustered at her tone and words. He seemed to not hear them often from members outside the clan.

"Stop it," he actually whined. "I'm not a child, don't treat me like one."

It was enough to actually make her laugh. "Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to make you angry. I'm not good with avoiding hurt feelings when it comes to people I just met. I have a bad habit, they tell me. But, what are you even doing out here. You seem like too big a deal for a watering hole like this."

"I thought you said this was a creek."

Sakura felt her brow quirk in agitation. "Uh, same thing."

"No, they're not."

"Whatever. What are you doing here? It doesn't change the nature of my question."

Izuna crossed his arms over his chest and looked away. "I can't tell you. It's top secret."

"You're lost, aren't you?"

His face turned a deadly shade of pink. "No! I was looking for someone."

"No one else lives out her, kid. If you need help finding your way you don't have to be embarassed." Sakura waved her hand in front of her face, grinning in spite of her resolve to keep up the act. It was too much fun teasing the boy.

"I told you I was looking for someone, I'm not lost, and I know I was close because I fell asleep for no reason."

Sakura stared blankly and let the silence between them grow awkward. Izuna whimpered, face heating further until it became too much and he cried out in embarrassment, turning on his heel and running off into the trees.

Sakura watched until he was no longer visible and then chuckled out loud. "Wow, he is too cute. Someone better watch out or else the women will run all over themselves for him one day."

* * *

It was a month before she saw any more children, and the child that came to her hedge was Tobirama. She didn't go out to greet him, but let her genjutsu work on it's own.

Unlike the others, Tobirama knew better than to underestimate her simple terrain and stay sensitive. He sensed her genjutsu, tried to dispel it, but only found another layer, and then another layer, until his doubt was a layer all on it's own.

Sakura watched from where she could not be watched, studying the child for who he was and trying to remember what he had been, or would be. In her time, when he had fought with them against Madara he had been a wizard or jutsu, holding himself in importance. He had been agitated with Naruto's lack of intelligence in some things and the memory was almost enough to make Sakura smile.

There was no more Naruto to get mad anymore.

Sakura sobered in the bushes behind another layer of illusion. She focused once more on the boy in front of her and tried to forget about Naruto or Sasuke or Sai or Kakashi or Lee or Ino or-or

' _There are no happy endings for heroes who kill gods_.'

Sakura ignored both her memories and the voice in her head with equal determination and concentrated on observing the boy in front of her now. Tobirama wasn't a wizard or a master of jutsu He was still keen of mind, she could tell that, but he was just a boy. He would have been in the academy if he had grown up alongside Sakura and the others of her time.

He wasn't old enough for puberty, and his face was still soft with child's fat. It made the shape of his eyes stand out as unnatural. Tobirama watched the world with the eyes of an adult on the face of a child.

What would he say when she greeted him? What would he say when he woke up after falling into her genjutsu and being spirited away just like Izune Uchiha. Would he be brash, would he be cold, would he say anything at all? He looked like he trusted nothing in the world and hated more than he had a right to. What sort of child would he be when Sakura greeted him, finally? She was eager to learn the answer.

The small child with red eyes took another handful of half steps into the maze, toeing the line where her jutsu caught most people in a deep slumber. He was on the edge and Sakura held her breath, waiting to see it happen. He stopped before he could fall asleep, turned, and left on his own.

Sakura wouldn't admit to being disappointed, but the way the others in her sanctuary teased her meant she hadn't needed to admit to anything. her feelings were on her face for anyone with eyes to read.

One of the nursing mothers teased Sakura over the wash with a knowing smile. "Don't worry. Miko's boy will be just as captivating when he's born. You can stalk him then."

"Don't tempt me so," Sakura huffed in reply, walking past towards one of her surgery tents.

A messenger bird had gone out, breast bright yellow, indicating that her attention was required in surgery-but it was not a time sensitive request. Red breasted birds made her run for the white tent.

Inside the tent a woman with a modestly swollen tummy was washing out a rag in a basin. Miko looked up and smiled when she saw Sakura in the doorway. "I'll leave you to it," she said.

Sakura sighed, exaggerating her melancholy. "Miko san, they're teasing me because I have no children of my own. Let me play with yours once he's born."

The older woman with streaks of off black white through her dark hair laughs. She's old for a child, but Sakura has been giving her the best prenatal care available, and the woman is as strong as they come. There will be no complications.

"Weren't you stalking one just now?"

Sakura hums, approaching the stabilized patient who was breathing steady on the bed. He had been brought in just minutes ago, but his injuries were not fatal and had all been given first aid from support on his squad. Sakura didn't anticipate any complications after a quick scan. She would have to talk to Aoi about where this one came from and how many others there were.

Last time something like this happened, Aoi left the rest of the squad outside her genjutsu barrier to dash back and forth frantically looking for a way in. The squad had expected the worst and been surprised to have their teammate stumble out, fully healed with no memory of where he had been.

Sakura preferred when all in the party were put to sleep and kept ignorant. She was good, thanks to her new abilities, but she wasn't perfect when it came to illusions. Some of the older Uchiha might be able to see through most of her layers.

"The boy in the hedges was too smart for me. He smelled a trap and took off, back home."

"What a shame," Miko cooed, grin sly. "You'll need your own. I plan on spoiling mine."

Sakura smiled softly up at the woman who had come so far. Aoi and Miko had been a couple she helped early on and there was hardly a soul more fiercely devoted to Sakura's mission to help others than the couple. Sakura adored the both of them for what they did to help and how they cared for each other. It was endearing to watch how Aoi fretted over his wife and how she fretted over him, neither one admitting to the affection.

"That's not in the cards for me, but I'll wait for another one to come along. It won't be long before the curiosity gets the better of one of them." Sakura tied her hair back and rolled up her sleeves. The man under her didn't react when she fed chakra into him, warm and healing.

"That's not what I mean and you know it. You're young and beautiful. If I had been so lucky at your age to be so accomplished I would not have stayed single so long."

Sakura couldn't help but flush at the motherly woman's words. "Ah-that's also not in the cards for me. I don't plan on growing such attachments while I'm here."

"Why not?" The woman squared her hands on her hips.

Sakura shrugged, pretending to concentrate on the Senju man under her hands. He seemed younger, but not too young. Sakura suspected he was part of a tracking unit. He was dressed for light, quick travel.

"I'm much more invested in my work right now. And besides, who would you see me with?"

"Well no one deserves you or is worthy, but I think you ought to have some happiness in your life from a soul mate. You've never thought that would be something you wanted?"

Sakura paused, straightening over the man. Miko waited across the other side of the bed, hands now moved to her belly. Sakura felt her secrets spill out of her before she even opened her mouth.

"I had people I was close to once, like a family. I had though in my youth that one of them would be more to me. But I was wrong, he wanted no such thing from me and they all ended up dying anyway. I don't have the stomach for such an attachment anymore, but I miss my family."

Sakura didn't say anything more but turned back to the man on the bed and finished healing him. Miko didn't comment further, but she didn't leave either. Towards the end when Sakura was finishing, she felt the older woman wrap her arms around Sakura and hug the younger girl tight.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Under the Rabbit Moon III**

* * *

Their story did not have a happy ending. Happy endings were endings, the finishing of things. Their story cycled into the hibernation of another ancient pattern doomed to be repeated in a later generation. Her boys died to save the world and all it had achieved was a handful of years meant for peace.

* * *

Sakura slept so long and so deep. Sometimes she slept for days. She was never beyond the point of being able to wake, but if someone didn't disturb her, she could sleep for almost a week at a time, just storing chakra in her seal. It was so much easier to gain strength when she was dormant.

Sometimes she felt more like a sloth or some other lethargic animal in comparison to who she used to be. She remembered going days without sleep on missions, healing friends for days straight. Now she slept for days straight, dead to the world for all intents and purposes.

Others around her worried at first, but Sakura always seemed stronger after a long rest. The longer the better, so the others in the garden let her be.

"What do you dream about when you sleep that long?" Aoi the sentry asked her once.

The boys are side by side, shoulder to shoulder, gray spikes running all through their bodies after the green thorns lost their color and turned the color of steel. Sai never made it so far and Kakashi was in front of her, a shield to the end. She had been cut through as well, but what killed her didn't keep her down. She healed enough to see her dead family. There was nothing she could do. She could mend the broken, and aid the afflicted but not even she could pull back the dead from that endless darkness.

Oh God how she wished she could.

Aoi was still waiting for an answer.

"The beginning of the world, the end of it, and everything in between," Sakura once answered before sleeping again. Her tone had been tight enough to tell Aoi she wasn't willing to say anything more.

No one asked her any more than that, but kept a reverent distance and respected her slumbering.

* * *

Another month after Tobirama's visit and Sakura perked up at the sound beyond her hedge. She could feel a presence out there, and then there was another. She held her breath as she counted two different presences she almost recognized. As adults they had seemed so different, but the core of their essence remained the same.

"Nothing rouses you like the prospect of playing with children, does it?" another midwife asked her as she helped Sakura into a simple cotton yukata. "Why don't you have you own?"

"Not as enjoyable and too much work. Besides, its more fun to steal others."

Sakura pulled her hair up into a bun with her nails and pinned it into place with a wooden pick so simple she could have been a present for not the state of her skin and teeth. The bandages on her hands didn't even slow her down anymore.

Madara and Hashirama were smart enough to work together in trying to dismantle her traps and genjutsu. They came closer than all the others, mostly because when one started to get trapped, the other would wake him and dispel that layer of illusion.

As a duo they were quite formidable. It was interesting to watch. What would have happened if they never broke their friendship? How much stronger could their empire be?

"There's someone here with us."

The tiny Madara was dour as he turned slowly and let his red eyes rove, searching for where she was hiding. She didn't move when he zeroed in on her location and didn't even bother to hide herself in the layers of the illusion anymore. She smiled wide when he found her and waved.

Madara cursed. "It's a peasant."

Hashirama pushed his friend aside and waved back. "Hello miss!"

Madara glared hard, likely not trusting her but not respecting her enough to consider her a threat. She was still a girl and the Uchiha were famous for their woman hating, traditionalism even in her time.

'Uchiha never change, do they?'

Oh, this could be fun.

"What are you doing here. I don't see any of your parents," Sakura started. She smiled simply and tilted her head. "Are you lost?"

"You don't look much older than either of us," Madara sneered. "Who do you think you are?"

Hashirama huffed in good humored agitation. "Madara, don't be a stick about it. She might be able to help." He turned back to face her and smiled. "I'm Senju Hashirama. I was looking for a friend my brother made."

Madara's eyes flashed red in anger and he glared over at her before turning his burning glare onto his friend. "You idiot, she could tell on us now!"

"Tell what?" Sakura set her hands onto her hips. "Are you sneaking out or something without your parents knowing? That's not such a big deal. Boys your age could get into a lot more trouble than that."

"We're not boys, we're  _shi-no-bi_." Madara huffed up, looking cuter than he meant to.

It almost made her laugh. She had seen puppies more intimidating. Madara was on the cusp of adolescence. Puberty would be in a couple years, but for now he was still a cute big kid with cheeks round enough to pinch. She wanted to tease him even more.

"Sure, sure," Sakura cooed, making her voice patronizing on purpose. It was too fun to watch them get worked up. Also, there was the fact that a part of her still hated Madara for getting used and setting into motion the chain of events that led to …that…that led to….

Her brain started to stall and Naruto was in her head, along with Sasuke and behind the stupid pair there was Kakashi reading his damn book. Sai was there too, as well as Yamato. Where were they, where was she?

Sakura turned suddenly, looking for her friends in the bushes between the trees, believing they had been there only seconds ago. She had heard their voices, she had felt them. She knew what it felt like when they were close and she could tell when she wasn't alone. Sasuke was just being an ass and Naruto wanted to prank her.

'They're dead, snap out of it.'

Sakura stilled, staring away. The world came back into focus.

That was funny. It had been so long since she had another panic attack like that. What terrible timing too. She had meant to be having fun teasing the reincarnations that would one day be her teammates. Sasuke and Naruto were still watching her, but they weren't Sasuke and Naruto. She blinked and they became new people. Madara and Hashirama were staring at her oddly. Hashirama looked worried while Madara looked grossed out.

"You okay, lady?" Hashirama asked first.

"She's crazy," Madara hissed in what was supposed to be a whisper to his friend, but came out too loud to be anything but intentionally rude.

"Oh, wow, I almost forgot about my chores. I think I was supposed to be doing laundry, but I lost my basket. I always get lost around these parts," Sakura laughed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Silly me."

"You need help finding your things?" The Senju son looked ready to help, but it was Madara that reached out and pulled Hashiraman back. "Madara?"

"Don't forget why we're really here. This wasn't a joy trip, we actually have work we need to get done. You said so yourself, you need to protect your brothers." Madara's eyes went hard. "You know I would do anything to keep my brother safe."

Hashirama swallowed and nodded. "And me too. I would do anything for my brothers."

"Keep them safe at any cost?"

"Of course."

Madara turned his glare towards Sakura once more. "You there, peasant girl, tell us what you know about this area."

Sakura pointed to herself and made her eyes go wide. "Me? You're asking me for directions? I'm the worst with those. You'd get lost if I tried to tell you where to go."

"We don't want directions, stupid girl." Madara almost stomped in his frustration. "There's a powerful warrior in this area that casts powerful jutsu. We've come to investigate for ourselves. Are you too dumb or blind to notice, or are you keeping something from us?"

Hashirama laughed nervously, holding up his hands. "That came off a bit strong, Madara. Um miss," he called out, turning his attention towards Sakura. "My friend is rude and he didn't meant to say the things he said so poorly. We're not wanting to make trouble, but we are here on mutual business. There is something off about this place and we want to make sure it's safe. You have loved ones, yes? Maybe even family members?"

Sakura thought of Naruto when she looked at Hashirama, and Sasuke when she glanced over at Madara. 'No, I don't. All my loved ones are dead thanks to a thousand year old goddess that brought me back to this god forsaken era.'

"Yeah," she lied. Sakura swallowed her guilt and fought to keep up the smile.

"We're looking out for them. So, you can understand why we're out here at all and why my friend is being a bit more rude than he has a right to be."

"Stop speaking for me like I'm not even here to hear it," Madara hissed.

"Have you heard of people getting hurt around this area?" Sakura asked, fixing her wide eyed look back in place. "I've never seen anyone get hurt here or heard of anyone going missing from local areas. It's pretty boring out here, but if it's as dangerous as you say, then maybe people ought to move away."

"That's not the same thing," Hashirama started to say. "It's not that we've heard of anything dangerous happening, but there is a person with great power nearby and the world is at war with itself."

"Not just your two families?" Sakura interjected, eyeing both boys critically.

Madara tensed in an instant, reaching for a small blade at his side. "I told you she'd tell on us. She knows who we are!"

It was funny, Sakura didn't remember Madara being this  _extra_  when they fought. Sure, the guy was dramatic and long winded like one would expect of a super villain in a story, but as a child he was a little trigger happy with his kunai. Maybe she shouldn't press his buttons any more than she already had, but it was just too much fun to tease him.

"You're thinking way too highly of yourself," Sakura sighed. "There are plenty of people who don't even care about your stupid family feuds, other than to mock it over tea and laugh about how no one even knows what the bad blood is even about anymore."

"You insult my family!"

Madara cried, fully brandishing his blade now. Hashirama squeaked in surprise but quickly rushed to hold his friend back. Madara struggled, but didn't advance even when it looked like Sakura was willing to stay still and let him come at her.

"Stop it, Madara, she's not a ninja, you'd slaughter her."

"She knows too much, I don't trust her."

"You can't kill her."

"Why not?"

Madara looked wild with his hair flying in a mess around his face. He had taken life before, he was used to drawing blood. War had already made him aggressive. He was a child but he was already a killer.

Sakura felt a tickle at her toes and looked down to see a small white slug burrow out of the ground. Sakura reached down to pluck it out of the dirt and lift it to her eyes. The slug chirped in greeting before cooing out a string of sentences too soft for anyone other than Sakura to hear. A moment later, the slug became vapor on her finger, fading fast.

Sakura turned her attention back to Madara and Hashirama who were talking quietly to each other. "You make up you mind on if you want to try and kill me or not?" she called out.

Madara was still glaring hard, red eyes spinning. Sakura felt her own third eye pulse in anticipation behind her cracked Yin seal. It wanted to play but she held it back. It would do no good to expend energy now.

"Please, miss, we can not let you spread the news of our sighting. You must swear to us you will not," Hashirama said.

"You wouldn't believe me even if I did, I suspect. Ah, but I can do something to change that." She clapped her hands together, grinning. "I'll show you my dirty laundry before I clean it. That way, you have one of my secrets, too!"

"Why the hell would anyone want to see an old lady's dirty laundry?" Madara bit out.

"You said you wanted to see the powerful person who lived in this area, didn't you?" Sakura teased, speaking as if it were the most obvious thing ever.

Before either boy could respond, she started to skip back in the direction of the genjutsu, passing right through it, dismantling parts of it as she went. She heard both boys following close behind, though couldn't make out which one followed her first.

In a matter of seconds the innocent looking woodlands were pulling away to an open grassy field spotted with crude wood houses and several cultivated gardens. A handful of people were milling about in the open while a large white tent flapped in the breeze not far from where Sakura emerged from the hedges. There were a handful of people moving in and out of the tent.

"There's my laundry, let me check to see how dirty it is before you follow me in," Sakura hummed, striding over.

"Where is this place and how were you able to get in?" Hashirama asked in soft wonder. His eyes lingered a bit too long on the houses made out of crudely grown wood and she worried he recognized the art style.

"It's just a little garden where people go who need healing. It's a neutral zone, you could never get in unless you were let in or if you came in with a truly neutral heart. You two boys would have been out there forever, no thanks to your warring history. But it's all good, you're being watched well enough and I trust you won't murder anyone on sight." Sakura stopped walking, causing the other two boys to almost crash into her back. "Right?"

"No, of course not! It was never our-"

"No promises, if someone tries to knife me first I'll lay em out," Madara interjected, cutting his friend off.

Sakura hummed, turning around and folding her arms. "You're not going to see the best part if you have an attitude like that. I'll throw you out if you don't swear to non violence while inside the sanctuary like all the others had to."

"I don't swear to anyone I don't trust." Madara pulled himself up to his full height, which was still a head shorter than Sakura and not that intimidating.

Sakura pulled herself up a little more, easily towering his stature. "I don't trust you, kid, but I'm showing you a big secret that should earn enough trust for this request. No violence. Swear it now or find out what happens when you don't."

"Madara, we're not here to fight." Hashirama rested a hand on his friend's shoulder and pat it once. "I'll swear it."

The Uchiha boy huffed in agitation, looking from his friend to Sakura, and then back to his friend again. "Fine! But I'll defend myself if you jump me. I'll not be the one who agitates anything around here."

"You're as safe as can be when you're here with me," Sakura said with a smile. "I'm trusting you with my secret, so trust me not to spread yours. Follow me inside."

Sakura started to move towards the tent when a pair of men came out to pull the tent flap back for her and nod as she walked over the threshold. They eyed the two kids oddly, but didn't question anything.

Inside the tent on a table were a pair of dark haired men in armor, bleeding heavily. Their eyes were closed, but one had veins around his eyes that still stood out in a way both boys recognized. Madara hissed and recoiled behind Hashirama.

"That one's a Hyuga."

"The other is a Inuzuka I think," Hashirama said, eyeing the red tattoos on the man's face. "They don't like each other."

"The Hyuga are scum that like no one," Madara mumbled. "What is she doing with two ninja so badly hurt?"

Hashirama shrugged. "She said this was a place where people who are hurt would come for healing. Maybe there are doctors here who do that sort of thing."

"For who? These ninja are enemies. Which one would be healed?"

Sakura ignored the boys and moved to the first man, pulling back his armor to see her slugs already eating away the dead skin and bacteria from his wounds. The Hyuga struggled, unconscious as he was when she reached for him. Sakura checked his forehead for any sort of seal and found none, relieving her of some worry. This one wasn't going to turn into ash in her hands like Neji.

Not this time.

Good, he was stable. She could take her time on this one if the other needed more immediate attention.

She moved to the man with the red marks on his face, thinking of Kiba. Sakura found the areas where the heaviest bruising was and noticed his ribs were broken and his heart was bruised. Something was leaking blood as well. It reminded her of injuries she had seen Lee suffering after a heavy spar with Neji, but never this severe. These were wounds meant to kill. This one was close to dying.

"Yeah, this one is in more danger," Sakura said out loud, tying her hair up. She called for one of the nurses to prepare her some hot water but started healing right away. In the corner, both boys watched as he hands glowed green and seeped light right into the discolored skin. She stayed there for a while, pouring healing light into the body without altercation or hesitation.

"What are you doing?" Hashirama asked after a few minutes had passed.

"What do you think this looks like to you?" Sakura asked, honestly curious.

Had the boys ever seen someone heal with chakra before? Most who saw it for the first time were shocked and stupefied, but these boys were shinobi, they weren't average people. They would at least recognize the chakra she was using and know it wasn't magic.

"It looks like you're investigating his body. Are you looking for clan secrets?" Madara asked, not caring about the state of the ninja.

"No, I've already done that and learned what I needed to learn. His heart is bruised and stretching. If it continues the heart could burst and he could die. I'm repairing the bruise on his heart first, before repairing his lungs. His bones will need a lot more time. I'll get to them later."

"How can you do that with chakra on another person?" Hashirama asked in wonder. "I've only ever heard of chakra doing that to the person it came from. My chakra heals me, but I can never help any of my brothers with it. How are you able to do that?"

"Sakura san are these boys allowed to be in here?" a woman entering the tent with more towels asked. She eyed the boys wearily, especially when Madara started to huff and puff himself up again.

"They are my friends and they requested they be here to see this," Sakura answered, still pouring chakra into the man on the table in front of her.

"The children?"

"Yes." Sakura's voice was distracted as she looked further into the man with her sense of chakra.

His heart was starting to rapidly repair itself with new cells, a process that would have taken weeks, in a matter of minutes. Of course it would be closer to an hour when she felt his heart was strong enough to avoid rupture again, but still, it counted as a matter of minutes to anyone who cared.

Sakura pushed herself to heal faster, to divide cells more fluidly, to progress the healing as best she could in as little time as possible. Subconsciously, her chakra started to tang with something new and she noticed in her healing there were also brand new cells coming to life. She was creating new cells for the damaged organ. She hadn't meant to do that, but didn't stop it once it started.

The new cells were strong and fast, like ones right out of a mother's womb. They were the kind that could do anything and they were repairing the heart right now. There were voices around her, muffled and far off, but she couldn't hear them and didn't pay them any mind until the heart was finished. She started to pull away, but the tang of her chakra started to latch onto the bruised lungs and broken ribs. They were even faster on these things and Sakura had to actually struggle to pull herself away. She was making the man brand new and it was always a custom of hers to leave the patients to heal a bit on their own. She didn't like making them stronger than her on the first day back.

Sakura pulled her chakra out of him and felt it seep back into her, pooling in her palms. Looking down, her chakra color was green for healing, but there were hues of aqua and shimmering blue she hadn't seen before. She closed her hands and turned to face the Hyuga from before. She noticed that both boys were watching quietly from the corner, not saying anything even though she knew they must have been extremely bored.

"What did you do to that one?" Madara asked before anyone else could.

He was looking at the shinobi Sakura had just turned away from. Glancing back Sakura could make out a healthy color to the man's cheeks, some relief in his expression, and a steadier breathing pattern. The man didn't look to be in so much pain anymore. He looked almost at peace.

"Don't interrupt the lady when she's working," the woman from before whispered to the two boys.

Sakura waved them off before hovering over the Hyuga. "I've healed him as best I could without exhausting myself."

Charging her hands with more green healing chakra, Sakura began to seal up the cuts that were now free of infection. She drew the skin back together, pieced it bit by bit, knit the cells back together and healed the open gashes across his chest. They looked like they had been caused by an animal; dog no doubt. This healing was a little more visible and the boys were captivated with the sight of it.

"That's faster than mine," Hashirama whispered to Madara.

Sakura ignored their whispers and investigated the man's left hand, noticing the discoloration. Bones in his hand had been broken. Those always took longer to heal and had to be treated carefully. Sakura swelled her chakra and let it fall into his hand, coiling around the shattered bones and piecing them back together. She stimulated the natural growth as best she could once she made sure it was sure to heal correctly, but left before it could be completely healed. He needed to do some of the healing on his own.

"What are you going to do to them when they wake up. They're enemies. They'll want to fight each other."

"As long as they stay in my garden, they're bound to a vow of honor." Sakura looked to Madara before going on. "There are no clans here, there are no wars, and no one is allowed to bring those in here with them. You understand this in your heart because you are able to befriend a Senju."

It was the first time she saw Madara blush so honestly. He didn't try to hide it or deny it. He almost seemed proud of his ability to look past it all.

"Maybe there is a time where you will no longer be able to see as you are, with eyes unclouded by hate, but here is a place where I do not allow hate or war. If you need it, this will always be a safe place for those who seek it."

"You mean for us, or…" Hashirama looked sideways at Madara and then back at Sakura. He swallowed. "What about our brothers, what about our fathers? They wouldn't all agree to something like that."

"Why do you think I hid this place so well in the beginning?" Sakura asked. "People who need it and people with peace in their hearts will have no trouble getting here. But invaders, warmongers, men with hate at their core will find no such garden."

It was Hashirama who spoke next.

" _You_  hid the garden."

It wasn't a question. Beside him, Madara stood a bit taller, a little less proud and a little more weary. How did he see her now, she wondered.

Sakura brushed off some dirt from her clothing and pretended she didn't know what their tone of wonder was for. "It's getting late and you both have families you should be getting back to. Tell them if you wish, I won't send anyone away who needs healing, but don't think this is a game or a joke you can manipulate as you see fit."

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Under the Rabbit Moon IV**

* * *

Their story did not have a happy ending. Happy endings were endings, the finishing of things. Their story cycled into the hibernation of another ancient pattern doomed to be repeated in a later generation. Her boys died to save the world and all it had achieved was a handful of years meant for peace.

* * *

It was Izuna who showed up next, on his own, without Madara or anyone trailing him. He didn't go through her hedges, but passed by close enough to feel her genjutsu and then scurry on towards the filtering stream where she had deposited him after he fell asleep the first time. He seemed to expect her there when he came into the clearing and searched for her.

Only one of Aoi's sentry birds caught sight of this and reported back to it's master. Aoi thought the sight was comical and took his time getting to Sakura to tell her about it.

"It's your responsibility, go see to him," he told her when she seemed too shocked to move at first.

"I didn't think any of them were coming back, it's been weeks," Sakura was combing up her hair with her fingers and trying to remember how many days exactly. Had it been more than a month? She slept so long and so often.

"Both clans have been moving, but the Uchiha clan is close to our north most border and the Senju are camping out to the east of us. They look like they're ready to dispute boundaries again."

Sakura paused, hands still in her hair. "You think there will be fighting?"

"I think your med tent better expand, is all I'm saying."

"I thought there was supposed to be a time of peace between them. Isn't that what you heard last?"

It had been so long since she heard news from the world outside. Only the newly sick and wounded who came to her brought new news. There had been a period of peace she dared to hope in, but it seemed like it was only a ruse; something to stall for time.

Still, Madara and Hashirama had come to visit her knowing each other was from a enemy clan. The Senju knew the Uchiha and that hadn't mattered to them. If she remembered correctly, that wasn't what happened in her timeline. Madara and Hashirama became friends without knowing who the other was, but once they found out the friendship ended in knives. Maybe this timeline was different. That woman said this was another reality, not the past, so maybe...

Sakura dared to hope, even as an old voice laughed in the back of her head.

"It's not our concern yet, we'll set up the extra tens just in case, but you should go enjoy what little free time you have left. Play with the child. We'll be here."

Aoi pat the side of her arm fondly and set off for the tents he would put up with some of the other stronger men who lived in her garden.

Sakura left them to it and hurried out to see Izuna, wondering why he had come and why he hadn't tried to enter through her hedge again. She stepped into the clearing and the second she did he turned on her, eyes wide and expecting. Sakura held up her hands, palms forward, but he still seemed to charge towards her.

"You!" he cried, pointing and moving towards her. "I knew it was you, Sakura san!"

"Ah, yeah, me. What are you talking about this time? You knew it was me for what?" Sakura put on a look of confusion which wasn't hard, considering she really was confused as to what Izuna could be talking about.

"My brother came her last time we were camped nearby and he told me what he saw. He told me he met the witch in the hedges and she was powerful and a healer. He told me she was a pretty young girl with green eyes and Sakura colored hair. She's you, right? He was talking about you! I didn't tell him I'd already met you, but I came here as soon as I could because I just knew it. You were the one all along who set up those mazes and genjutsu."

There was really no use in denying it. "You didn't tell your brother you knew me?" she echoed.

"No way, he'd ruin all my fun and tell me it's dangerous and not let me go. I don't see why he thinks I'm such a baby. I can do anything he can do."

"He's a year older, right?"

Izuna crossed his arms over his chest and almost pouted. His look turned dark. "Yeah, so what?"

Sakura shrugged. "With all the fighting I hear about I would be worried about my younger brother if I had one. I think he just cares for you. Don't be mad at him."

"You don't know him like I know him, plus he said you were dangerous. He didn't want me coming out here on my own. It's not fair that you say nice things about him." Izuna shifted his stance a bit and raised his chin. "Plus, I came out here to make sure you were safe."

Sakura couldn't help the grin from spreading across her face. "What? Me?" Her insides felt warm and light.

"Yeah! You're too trusting and nice. Someone is going to take advantage of you and you have to be careful. Senju are in the area and they could find this place! I had to come here to make sure you were safe from them. It would be so like them to sneak here and assassinate a healer."

"You think I have to worry about the Senju, but I've never had one try to harm me before and I've met several," Sakura laughed. "Don't you think they have more important things to do than try and kill me?"

"No, that sounds just like the sort of thing they would do. They have their own healers, but clans like mine don't have very good healers, or at least we don't have any that can use chakra to heal. I've only heard of the Senju being about to do that."

Sakura nodded, crossing her hands in front of her and bowing in thanks. "I appreciate the worry you have for me, young Uchiha san."

"Izuna!"

"Young Uchiha Izuna san."

Izuna grumbled loudly and stomped his foot. "I'm not young."

Sakura straightened, grin wide. "Of course not. Would you like to see inside my garden?"

His eyes grew wide and Sakura knew she had him eating out of the palm of her hand for however long the wonder lasted. Oddly enough, the magical wonder of medicine seemed to grip the young Uchiha more than Sakura expected. His brother had been so hot headed and rash in fights, Sakura never would have assumed his precious little brother would be so interested in healing.

She took him to the stream that ran through the garden and lured a fish onto the back to cut open with her chakra. It flopped and nearly died, but Sakura showed Izuna what it looked like to use healing chakra on the fish before putting him back into the water with nary a scratch to his pinkish scales.

"How did you do that?" he gasped.

"A lot of practice and years of guidance. You know how to use chakra, correct?"

Sakura held out her hands for him to take. He reached out hesitantly before placing his hands, palm side up, atop her own hands. She channeled her healing chakra through her hands and he felt it. It was warm, softer than other chakras. Some other people wore their chakra around them like a fuzzy coat, or a rough blanket. Sakura's chakra control was perfect, so her chakra came out smooth as silk in water. It was soft enough to heal.

"It feels different. Is this chakra?"

"You have a good sense to notice the difference. Yes, this is my chakra. I need to keep it like this so that I can better control it when I try to heal someone. I use my chakra to piece the broken parts of a body back together or clean out infection or remove poison from a wound."

Sakura stiffened when she felt warm over her hands. Izuna had summoned his own chakra up to meet hers and she could feel him trying to smooth it out. His chakra was controlled, not nearly as rough as Naruto's had been, but it wasn't smooth enough to heal. He winced at the feel he was suddenly so sensitive to and tried to bring his chakra back out with less distortion. The warm of his hands didn't go away, but when he summoned his chakra again it was less noticeable.

"Does it have to be like yours to heal?" he asked, looking down at his hands atop hers.

"I can teach you some basic first aid jutsu. Healing as a career takes a long time to learn and a lot of dedication. Don't expect to understand it after seeing it only once," she laughed. Sakura reached up and squeezed his hands before pulling away.

"I don't want my important people to die anymore," Izuna admitted, looking down.

Sakura stilled, thinking back to what she knew of the Uchiha in the warring states era. Izuna had died, leaving Madara alive to carry on, but hadn't there been other brothers? Before it was just Madara and Izuna the history books listed two other unnamed sons who died early in battle. It was a tidbit of information no one bothered remembering. Their names hadn't even been recorded.

Izuna stayed quiet and Sakura worried he might get lost in his own dark though so she reached out to poke the center of his forehead, the way her mother and father would when she started to get worried about the size of her forehead. Izuna staggered and looked up at her in surprise.

"What was that for?"

"Don't make such a face in front of me. Even with all this, I've had to watch friends and family die. There are things you can do and there are things you can't do. I've dedicated much of my life to growing stronger and healing others, but even I fail sometimes."

He reached up and rubbed the skin on his face where she poked him. "You had family before this? Where are they now?"

Dead.

"I'm the only one left," Sakura said, avoiding the confirmation. It made her so unsettled admitting it out loud, admitting that her boys were dead and she had somehow still survived.

"Was it a long time ago?"

Sakura shrugged. "It's been years since then, but it feels like days, and the empty feeling they leave behind never really goes away. Hurt heals, but it never fully goes away. Do you know what I'm trying to say?"

Izuna hiked his shoulders and mumbled back in a quiet voice. "Sorta. I don't know."

Sakura waited and let the feel of the world around her soak in. The sun was warm, the air was clean, and the sounds were soft and far off mostly. Sakura could hear people in the nearby houses and birds and the trickle of water over stone. Everything about her garden in this moment seemed perfect and she wanted to keep it that way. No more talk of the dead.

"I did promise you some more herbology lessons. I suppose you'll be wanting those today."

He perked up, grin growing.

* * *

Izuna became her most regular visitor, oddly enough. Every other day he would drop in to visit or if he couldn't a small blackbird would drop a note off at the edge of her hedges for her with a note from the boy explaining why he wouldn't be able to see her that day. Often times there were doodles or cartoon illustrations in his notes asking for forgiveness.

After inviting him in, Izuna had taken a shin to the medical arts and had asked to help out whenever he could. Sakura had him wash with her, told him about various treatments to injuries, guided him in search of plants and herbs, and even allowed him to sit in the medical tent when she worked.

He had wonderful control, but his chakra control wasn't perfect or close to perfect enough to be suitable to healing at this stage in his life. It would take much more training and Sakura was hesitant to share this with the Uchiha boy. She didn't know what he would do if she taught him how to use chakra as a means of healing. His heart wasn't in the right place for it.

"Today it's the tiny brat and his dalmatian brother," Aoi said, grumpily sending his birds away. He frowned at the way Sakura smiled. "I don't want you getting too attached to these kids. They're at war with each other. The chances of them all making it are slim."

Sakura stilled in her preparations and felt her smile fall. "I-I know that. I'm taking each day as a blessing." She couldn't say much more than that, so Sakura left her house for the edge of the hedges.

"Kawarama!" Sakura called, spotting the youngest Senju with his brother Itame.

Sakura waved the two boys over and Kawarama came running while Itame hung back. Of course Kawarama was the one that was always over the moon when they got to visit her. Itame was still a bit shy around her, but always respectful. He had only been by with his brother a handful of times. Mostly, Kawarama tried to sneak out on his own, but that wasn't working out so well for him lately. It had been a while since Kawarama came by himself. Itame was getting better about catching his brother.

"Sakura chan, look, look!" Kawarama reached her first with a handful of wild flowers. They were all different colors and Sakura felt parts of her heart break for the child. He was too sweet to be in armor.

"Thank you Kawarama kun, they're lovely." She took the flowers from his hands and turned them around, recognizing a few of them. She looked up when she saw another fist full of flowers enter her line of vision.

Itame was blushing and looking down, but offered a handful of wild flowers as well. It had been the first real show of not only acceptance but affection from the Senju boy. Kawarama was always the most warm, Itame was more reserved and shy, not unlike his older brother Tobirama. But unlike Tobirama, Itame was kind hearted. He had never been cold with Sakura.

Thinking about it, Sakura remembered the second Hokage coming to her hedges only once. He hadn't been back since.

"Thank you, they're lovely." Sakura collected both sets of flowers and added them together before pointing out a white hanging type of flower. "Did you know I use this flower to make medicine?"

"You don't use the red ones?" Kawarama asked, snuggling into her arm, not really paying attention to the gift anymore, though Itame was.

"What do you make with the white ones?" Itame asked.

"I actually use several of these flowers. The red ones do get used, I make sleeping medication out of those flowers, but the white ones are used to heal specific poisons."

"I heard that the same flower that heals is the flower that bites. It-it means that flowers and plants used for good can also be used for bad." Itame shrugged his shoulders high. "I tried learning from one of our healers, but when I never showed signs of the gift like big brother or Kawarama here, they stopped teaching me."

Sakura blinked, realizing that her history never spoke much about Itame and almost nothing about Kawarama. She had never known that the youngest Senju brother might be a potential powerhouse like the first hokage. He had never lived long enough for history to talk about him.

'No, that was a different world. Nothing has happened in this world yet. You have a chance in this reality to shape it as you see fit.'

Sakura felt a chill and knew her inner hadn't spoken to her just now, but the dormant rabbit goddess.

"Sakura?" Kawarama called up to her before feeling her face. "You're cold."

Sakura shook her thoughts away and leaned into his touch. "Sorry, I was lost in thought for a moment." She turned her eyes back to Itame. "I've never trained anyone who could already heal themselves, I wouldn't see the point in it. So that's not a reason to turn someone away. Would you like to see how I make some remedies?"

It was a little while later, when Sakura was showing the boys how she stripped the flowers and extracted the pump from the stem, that she realized she had seen Itame's drive somewhere before. Izuna had looked the same way when she showed him how she healed and took him out to hunt for medical herbs. Funny, how two boys she would have never expected turned out to have a lot more in common with each other.

"Something you thinking about?" Kawarama asked, slapping her face playfully as he leaned down from the branches of a tree. Sakura grinned and slapped his face back, causing him to giggle.

"I was thinking about another boy that comes to my hedges. He also wanted to learn how to heal. You remind me of him."

Itame looked up, concerned. His hands were in the dirt trying to save the roots of a plant Sakura wanted. "Do a lot of other people come to see you?"

Sakura nodded, bending down to help him with the plant. "Plenty come in and go once they are healed. I have a handful every few days and I take them all. Some stay for a long time, others leave never knowing how to get back here. Some have homes and clans, others are lonely and aimless. Many people come to see me."

"And you help them all, even the Uchiha?" Itame was watching her.

"Of course. I've helped Uchiha and Hyuga, and clan-less ninja. I've even helped a few Senju in the past."

"You have to be careful, Sakura chan!" Kawarama interjected, sounding worried as he dropped down from the tree. "The Uchiha will stab you in the back. They're bad people. They've killed."

"Most ninja have I would assume," Sakura replied. "But I help anyone who is hurt. It's a vow I took when I became a healer. My master taught me to treat all the injured with the same care and respect as friend or family member. It's not always easy, but that's what I try to do."

"Where are you family members?" Itame asked.

Kawarama's eyes went wide from behind Sakura and he started to shake his head and tell his brother off, but Sakura reached out and ruffled his ashen blond hair.

"It's fine." Sakura soothed the smaller child with her tone. Turning back to Itame she reached into the soil and uprooted the rest of the plant. "My family all died a long time ago. They were killed in a war, dying to bring peace." She passed the plant over to Itame. "Here, you can take this back and I'll show you how to de-leaf it for the best contents."

A bird cried out, flying overhead in a flash of yellow. Sakura stilled, staring up into the canopy of trees, expecting another bird, but nothing else came.

A hand touched her arm and she blinked, coming back to the present. "What is it?" Itame asked. "Aren't you going to show us something?"

Kawarama watched her oddly, glancing back up at the trees she had been watching.

"I think I can show you something else this time. It seems there is a patient here for me." She nodded towards the part of the garden with the medical tent and turned there. Both boys were quick to follow.

Aoi showed up beside her a few moments later, whispering something in her ear before darting off, seemingly agitated. Words like 'alone' and 'wandering' were loud enough to hear, but little else.

As she walked, Sakura tied back her hair, knotting it at the base of her neck. At the threshold to the tent she paused before cautioning the boys to wait.

"Miko?" Sakura called. "I have friends with me. Can they come in?"

Sakura heard something and cautioned the boys to wait on the step before going in to check out the situation herself.

Itame shifted nervously while Kawarama frowned and crossed his arms. "I thought this was your home, can't you just tell her to let us in?" the youngest Senju asked.

His older brother reached out and hissed something at the tiny blond. "Idiot, she's checking to see if it's a dangerous ninja or something nasty. What if it was the plague? You wanna die?"

Kawarama's frown dropped and he shook his head rapidly. A minute later a different woman appeared at the threshold, holding the underside of her modestly swollen tummy. She grinned at the boys and waved them in. "She's talking with the patient now. Wait inside."

Sakura heard the two boys enter but trusted Miko to keep them off to the side while she washed her hands and assessed the state of the woman. Aoi had whispered to her about the situation and Sakura had to admit it seemed odd. The woman stumbled in on her own, dirty, haggard, looking like she had run the face of the world barefoot. She looked like a wild woman, but under the dried mud and dirt, Sakura could tell the kimono had once been very fine. The woman's hands were bloody, but they were soft and tore easy. This had been a noble woman at one time.

"What ails you?" Sakura asked, washing her hands with the hard orange soap she had instructed one of the woman to make for her.

The woman on the bed breathed deeply, shaking her hands like there was a tremor in her body she couldn't contain. When the woman tried to talk her words came out wrong, bloated sounding. Her mouth was failing to make the right adjustments to convert her vibrations into recognizable sounds. Her hands shook even more and Sakura saw tears begin to leak.

'Head injury disrupting motor functions maybe?'

"Lie back down. I wish to examine you."

Sakura helped the woman recline and did her best to wipe the woman's face before positioning herself at the head of the bed. There, Sakura placed her hands on the woman's skull, fingers weaving through plates of matted brown hair, to connect with the scalp's skin. Sakura eased her chakra into the body and began her diagnostic.

It took longer than any other type of injury, the ones in the brain always required that much more detail and attention. Sakura felt like lasted in that trance for hours, mapping the interior of the woman's brain and neural path works. There was something wrong, she could tell right away, but it took much longer to fine the root of the problem.

'Have I seen something like this before?' Sakura asked aloud as she spotted the wound. A blood clot of sorts. Neural science wasn't something she specialized in, though she had dealt with several surgeries of similar natures.

'We have.' Inner Sakura floated in their shared consciousness holding a scroll spread out over her lap. It stretched on forever. 'Remember?'

'Help me.' Sakura flailed in her mind for the memory. There had been so many texts she read, and many more she simply skimmed. Had one of them held the answers?

Inner Sakura let the scroll fall off her lap and sighed. 'You're hopeless with that imperfect memory of yours. Why do you think you created me in the first place?'

Inner Sakura melted and the darkness inside Sakura's mind shifted into one of structure. There was a library and Inner Sakura was pulling books off the shelf alongside scrolls and files. Sakura looked through the shelves too, finding them full of her memories. Medical texts, mission reports, diary entries, anything and everything she had ever read was here. What she didn't remember her Inner did.

'Here.'

Sakura looked up at the sound and saw Inner Sakura pulling out a medical chart of the brain with notes from a query in Waterfall. 'I don't remember reading that.'

'You skimmed before assisting Tsunade on a surgery in your early years.  _I_ read it.' Inner dissolved along with the book and Sakura fell into the shared memory only to open her eyes and see hardly a second had passed since she fell back into her own thoughts.

'I forgot what it was like with you in the beginning,' Sakura thought to herself, recalling how Inner Sakura had first showed up in a night of frustration and limitation. Keeping up with Ino at the academy had created so much anxiety in her little head that Inner Sakura had manifested as a solution to the problem of lackluster grades. That's all. Later on, years later, Inner Sakura fed on the emotions Sakura swallowed and changed alignments to fit a brand new need.

'That's not important now. Fix the stupid clot. She's having motor difficulties because of it. She's lucky she hasn't choked because of it yet.'

Sakura spread her chakra and it was like threading seventy two silver needles with seventy two ends of thread when she went in to do her healing.

It was night when she came out of it. The woman was still sleeping and Sakura felt so light. Miko was gone and the candles had been lit.

When?

"Miko?" Sakura called, keeping her voice thin in hope of not waking up the woman on the bed. Sakura still had no idea who this woman was, but knew the clot was gone. They could work on rehabilitation tomorrow.

A moment later Aoi's wife appeared in the doorway. Miko grinned. "The boys fell asleep. We fed them and sent them home. How is the woman?"

Sakura stepped away from the bed and reached for the wall, steadying herself. "Better. We'll practice walking tomorrow, but the ailment has passed. Did they really go home?"

Miko paused a moment before a wide grin split her face. "Yes," the older woman laughed. "But you look to sad to talk to right now! Oh, go get fed and off to bed. Tomorrow is another morning."

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Under the Rabbit Moon V**

* * *

Their story did not have a happy ending. Happy endings were endings, the finishing of things. Their story cycled into the hibernation of another ancient pattern doomed to be repeated in a later generation. Her boys died to save the world and all it had achieved was a handful of years meant for peace.

* * *

Sakura doubted Madara wanted to be in her garden, but she didn't doubt he wanted to be with his friend Hashirama, which was interesting considering what she had been told of history. After discovering their true names the two boys were supposed to have a falling out, but Madara knew his friend was a Senju and Hashirama knew his friend was an Uchiha. Still, it was as if their families meant nothing when they were together. If the issue came up in conversation Madara would go dark and silent while Hashirama would smile and look away.

'Let's agree to ignore that bit of reality, shall we?'

"Back for more?" Sakura asked, walking up to the two boys with blood on her hands. Dark and viscous, the blood stained all the way up, past her wrists to the middle of her forearms.

"What were you doing?" Madara sneers. He eyes her hands with mistrust.

Sakura raises her hands and grins. "Cleaning animals for food. I can keep my hands sanitized with chakra constantly burning off infection and bacteria, which makes the gutting process so much easier. What? Did you think this was from a person?"

Behind her inside the rough structure was a steer cut and divided into easy pieces for preserving and eating. One of the recovering men in her garden was assisting with the rest and nodded at her that she could go. He would take over the clean up.

"Have you had any other patients?" Hashirama asked. His tone was kind enough and he seemed unconcerned with the blood. His was Shinobi, she doubted this was the most or the worst he's seen in his life.

"Not today, but we've had loads this week. Were you hoping for another show?"

It was easy to grin around the two boys. As opposed to their brothers, who Sakura felt compelled to smother and spoil, Hashirama and Madara were older and easier to mess around with. She just wanted to razz them.

Especially Madara.

She caught the young Uchiha's eyes and narrowed her own as her sly grin grew. She wiggled her brows a little and he flustered, huffing and balling his hands into fists at his sides in annoyance. She could see it in his face how he wanted to scream at her that he wasn't a kid she could mess with and make faces at.

"I actually wanted to ask about some of these houses if you don't mind."

Sakura blinked, looking back at Hashirama. "Eh?"

Hashirama pointed to the homes that looked like they had come out of the earth like that. They were the ones she had grown herself. Some were messier than others, but a few actually looked neat and clean. Did that mean he could recognize where they came from?

She looked down at his easy going smile and wilted when she saw the knowing gleam in his eyes. She had forgotten this kid grew up into the first Hokage. He was kind and sweet, but he wasn't stupid.

"My cute little houses? What do you want with them?" Sakura asked.

"Where did they come from?"

Sakura huffed, crossing her arms and leaning back on her heels. "Hmmm, I'm not supposed to say, even though I think you already guessed it yourself. Say, what would you do if someone asked you to keep a secret and you said you would?"

"It was a Senju wasn't it?" Hashirama pressed.

Sakura rolled her shoulders, comfortable with misleading the boy a little bit. "You wouldn't believe me if I said no, would you? If you already guessed it why ask me?"

"What was his name?"

"Why do you think it's got to be a guy? It could be a woman."

Sakura waved her hands and frowned when blood flew off. She turned back towards the hut to grab a rag and clean off most of the blood while the two boys followed her.

"Women rarely show such talent and I've not heard of a woman being able to use the wood growing technique in years, but those structures are less than five years old."

"You're quite insistent on finding this out. What do you think about all this, Madara Uchiha?" Sakura asked, turning to look at the other boy and using his clan name on purpose.

"I think you're dangerous and you're not answering his questions." His glare turned sharper.

"I never promised I would," she said. The blood was still faintly coloring her hands and wrists, but most of it was gone. Another wash would take care of the rest.

"Why?"

Sakura looked up at the eldest Senju son. "Hashirama," she said, voice softening. "I want you to believe I am not dangerous to you, that I mean no ill will…but I also have to protect the people here, including their secrets. If you choose to pursue this and bring disruption into my home I can not abide the violence it will bring. I know how the Senju and the Uchiha treat their deserters and their 'dead weights.'"

Sakura was spinning a story, but none of it was a lie. She wouldn't lie to them, she didn't want to have to fill her mouth up with untruths, but she refused to share that much of herself so soon with boys she didn't truly trust. Hashirama was too Senju and Madara was too Uchiha for that.

"So you are dangerous," Madara countered, jumping close to Hashirama.

"I am. But so is your father, and your father." She looked at both boys. "This world is filled with dangerous people. Do you fear them all?"

"We still don't know you very well."

Sakura paused, thinking over his words and really hearing them before nodding. "Granted. But tell me this, what motivation would I have to counteract my nature. I built this garden, furnished it and supported it for the purpose of helping heal. I do not discriminate between the men and women, the poor and the young, the old and the forgotten. I have been the witch in the woods for so many years because I need the secrecy. These people…many can not defend themselves. It's my duty to care for them. I will not be dangerous without a good reason. Will you give me a good enough reason, or will you leave this in peace?"

Sakura spoke to the boys more as an equal than she did with their brothers. Even though the age difference was slight, it felt like years. Sakura felt like she was talking to genine who were going to war, and maybe that was because she was. These boys were hard with war. They were barely boys anymore.

Hashirama smiles and lowers his head after a moment, looking at his sandals. "I don't want that. I'm not here to bring trouble, I just wanted to know. If there is a Senju here, and you are hiding him…or her, don't be afraid of me telling cause I wouldn't. There's just so few of us left and I don't have many people I can learn from anymore."

"Learn?" This was the first time he had shared something about himself with her. She wasn't supposed to know.

Hashirama made a seal with his hands and around Sakura grew a tall arch that seeped what looked like spines, but soon twisted and curled into connecting arches. Sakura didn't run, but shifted to watch as the wood around her grew. It was rough until it didn't need to be anymore, before becoming smooth and polished. When he was done she was standing in a pavilion, like the kind that overlooked lakes and ponds. It was lovely…if a bit out of place.

Sakura breathed deep, loving the smell of the wood and reaching for the closest beam. It was soft and smooth under her fingers. She inhaled deeply, wishing she could soak in the feel. A part of her, the part she aquired with the rabbit goddess' cognition, was happy.

When she looked up Hashirama was watching her and Madara's eyes were still narrowed, but not as angry as they had been. Madara seemed to understand something new, and the harshness was gone from his glare.

"It's lovely," Sakura breathed, stroking the wood. It was much neater and cleaner than what she had been able to conjure on her own. It made her want to practice some more in the woods.

"Will you…will you let the person know I did this, and that I would like to meet them? I don't mean anything dangerous by it."

Sakura let her shoulders fall, feeling defenseless to his simple words.

"I will try. You are always welcome here." She lifted her eyes to Madara who stood a foot behind Hashirama. "Both of you."

* * *

It had been nearly a week since the last time Izuna had come to visit, even though she had received two messages apologizing for his absence. The second scroll had extra cartoon drawings that managed to made her smile. Still, when she put the scrolls away she couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was wrong.

She found Aoi, the middle aged man who was always so keen on things and asked him how the outside world looked. She asked if there had been any clashes between the Uchiha and the Senju clans in particular.

"Only one or two that are worth noting. They mostly try to keep their business secret. I don't catch everything, only what's important to us here in the garden, but if you're worried, I'll send extra birds out."

"No, I'm not worried, just…anxious." Sakura tried to smile but it came out wobbly. "I feel like things are off all over the place. Something isn't right and I don't know what."

"I trust your gut. I'm sending those extra birds out. The boys were taking bets to see how long before a full scale outbreak between those two clans. Most have their money on the coming days. Tensions can't be much tighter this way." He stepped back and looked her over, seeing her less as the almighty healer who brought him back from the edge of death and more as the worried woman with too much loss in her eyes. "It'll be fine. You're safe here with us. We won't let anything happen to you."

"I'm not worried about me."

Aoi chuckled. "Of course you aren't. That's typical. Sit tight, Sakura san. We'll keep the extra eyes on it."

Everyone she spoke to said pretty much the same thing. Sakura wanted to believe their words, but her heart was too quick in her chest to ignore. Something was off and something was wrong. She didn't want to believe it, but she knew better than to doubt her gut.

Sakura dressed in a peach colored yukata that looked nice enough that it would help her pass as someone of low importance. She put her hair back with a simple twist and a handful of pins. She looked like a girl that worked.

Taking a basket for herbs, Sakura left the garden and started heading east in search of more mallow plant. It was easy to find and soon she had half a basket. She didn't even need that much of the plant, but for some reason she kept walking. It was too nice outside to ignore. The sun was warm and the air was cool. The shade was lush and the nature around her was just a bit more wild than she remembered it.

"Saaaaaakura chan!"

Sakura turned and looked down the hill from where she was standing to see a couple of boys waving to her. Itame and Kawarama were side by side, waving over their heads to her, but neither approached. They seemed to be beckoning.

'At least they're still alive.'

A fear that had been bubbling up in her chest for days seemed to pop and dissipate. She started to move down towards them, waving back. They both looked like they were in good health too. Itame was smiling and Kawarama had a huge grin on his face as he bounced in place. The boys looked-

Thunk.

Sakura slipped, feeling her body go limp from the shock. She stumbled and reached out, catching a scrap of tree bark on her way down. The blade followed her, still sticking out of her chest where her heart should have been.

' _Oh no, your heart is still there, barely beating. That's what he pierced, after all_.'

What?

Sakura sagged against the tree and reached up, feeling for her chest and finding the end of a short sword in between her breasts. The boys from down below were screaming, they sounded distraught. When she coughed there was blood in her mouth that splattered across her peach colored front.

Who?

The boy with silver hair moved out from behind the tree, a kunai ready in hand. The sword in her chest must have been his. Tobirama was glaring hard at her, ignoring the cries from his brothers as they rushed forward.

Why?

There was another scream, this one more harrowed with anger. It came shrieking from a high place behind her and Sakura turned with the rest of the party to see Izuna there, tears wetting his face and lightning in his hand. It made her think of Kakashi and she wondered if this was where his chirping birds came from.

Time seemed to still as Sakura took in all the details, saw all the emotions and all the expressions before the bodies started moving.

Izuna was running down towards Tobirama with an epic hatred in his eyes that seemed fated for his face. His eyes were blood red and gleaming in a hungry way. The second oldest Senju son didn't back down, but turned towards Izuan with red narrowed eyes of his own.

'What a strange turn of events.'

Sakura didn't bother to pull the cloth away from her hands, but pushed chakra there regardless and opened the eyes on her palms. They came to life, vibrant in lavender hues. She focus on a command and spent her chakra. The world shook for a moment as both boys were forced to the floor under the weight of crushing gravity. Izuna fell, hurting his face with the sharp side of a rock while Tobirama tumbled sideways and stayed stuck. Both boys struggled but neither managed to rise on his own.

"Aneki!" Itame cried out, looking to his older brother.

Kawarama was blubbering, still looking at the red stain that grew larger across Sakura's front.

Sakura sighed, breathed deep, and felt the seal unlatch and come undone, pouring healing into the ruined parts of her body. She stood a little straighter and gripped the hilt of the short sword behind her. It had been thrown through her back with impressive force. She hissed but drew it out, staining the dirt under her sandals with red.

She tossed the sword onto the ground and approached the two boys, feeling the seep and drain of her chakra as she held them both in place. It was impressive in comparison to when she tried to use her own eyes and only lasted 19 seconds. She felt at this rate she could go hours.

Tobirama became frantic, struggling harder and faster the closer she loomed.

"You have people who love you, and it's good to take care of them. Treasure your brothers always and look out for them, Senju san," Sakura said, touching the back of Tobirama's head. Healing chakra coiled at the base of his brain stem and he stilled before going limp and falling asleep.

Sakura released her hold on gravity and Izuna sprung up like latch as soon as he could. He stumbled but reached for her, eyes still wide and words still incoherent as he searched for the wound on her body. He peeled back the ripped pieces of fabric and saw her skin seeping steam as it began to knit back together at a slow pace. He started to calm down only when she tugged on his chin and had him look her in the eye. Sakura smiled down at him and tapped his nose.

"I've missed you, friend. You've not been to visit me at all this week."

"S-Sakura ch-haaaan." He fell into her arms sobbing and apologizing.

Behind her she heard Itame and Kawarama run up. Itame went to his brother first and sighed in relief when he realized Tobirama was only sleeping. Kawarama ran into Sakura's back and sobbed louder than Izuna.

"We're sorry, we didn't know, we-we didn't know!" Kawarama cried. "He said he had a surprise for you. Sorry, we didn't know!"

Izuna stilled in her arms and then started to shake. Sakura drew her arms around him and held him still, pinning him to her chest least he lash out. She could feel his hate rolling off him in waves. He was a child and felt emotions so much stronger.

"It's been made fine, Kawarama kun. I'm not hurt. I don't feel any pain and your brother is going to be just fine. He was only trying to protect you in a misguided way. It was wrong what he did, but I understand he did it because he loves you and wanted you both to be safe."

Sakura looked back over her shoulder, but didn't reach for Kawarama, keeping her arms around Izuna. She didn't trust him to not attack the younger Senju brothers just yet.

"I don't want anyone getting hurt here," she said before kissing the top of Izuna's head. "No more fighting. Right?"

"Sakura san, please don't hold it against Tobirama. He heard untrue rumors about a witch who lives up in the hills and thought you were trying to lure us into your cave to eat us," Itame said.

"Sakura doesn't even have a cave," Izuna bit out, still glaring at the Senju boys.

"That's what I said!" Kawarama cried out. "No one believed me."

"I believed you, dope," Itame said in a grumble. "Hashirama would have stopped Tobirama, but he's off again who knows where. I think they've been fighting again."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Sakura said in a tone she kept as soft as possible.

She started to let Izuna go from her hold, but when she made her arms lax around him he didn't move. He didn't stop glaring at the other boys, but at least he didn't lunge at them.

"I'm going to go back and rest after this. Izuna, will you help carry my basket. I dropped it somewhere here. You boys should carry your brother back and make sure he sleeps somewhere good for his back. He'll wake up in an hour or two from now."

"What about you?" Itame asked, noticing the red staining so much of her clothing. Kawarama nodded, eyes wide with worry.

Sakura laughed. "I'm a little harder to kill than that. I'll be fine, but I  _am_  tired."

"I don't want to go back with him," Kawarama cried, hugging Sakura's less bloodied side. "I was supposed to come see you today. It's not fair he ruined it."

"Hey, brat, don't talk about fair or unfair when it was Sakura who got cut up by your stupid br-"

"Enough, Izuna," Sakura interrupted, voice soft and firm in a paradoxical way. "Kawarama, you are always welcome in my garden, but check with Itame to see if he needs help."

Izuna pressed himself closer to Sakura and whispered. "I don't trust any of the Senju." His voice wobbled a bit towards the end and when she looked down at his face the edges of his eyes were still raw and wet.

"I trust you and I trust Kawarama. Will you trust me?" She ran her fingers through his hair and he seemed to calm.

"Fine."

Itame said he would take his brother back and make up something about a training accident while Kawarama got to run off with Sakura and Izuna back to the garden. Sakura made Kawarama carry her basket and Izuna run around for more replacement plants to make up for the ones that fell out during her attack. It was good work that distracted him and made him feel useful.

When they got back to the garden a few people rushed out at the sight of her bloodied state but Sakura laughed loudly and assured them she was fine and in one piece and needed no assistance or medical attention. When one of the ladies asked what happened Kawarama started to wilt beside her. Izuna glared hard at the ground.

Sakura sighed. "A scuffle that wasn't meant for me caught me anyway. It's my own fault, really, but I got away fine and look, no silly wound anymore. It looks terrible though, doesn't it? I'll have to scrap this because those stains aren't getting out."

"Don't worry about that, you need a bath!" one of the older women in the garden exclaimed, tugging on Sakura's arm. Another woman, a-bit younger, started to help in pulling Sakura along.

"Wa-wait, someone needs to make sure the boys are fed and-they can't leave without saying goodbye."

They pulled her further away while a new figure came up to stand behind the Senju and Uchiha boy. "Tell her you'll be fine or else she'll worry and rush," a man with deep black, almost blue hued hair, said.

Kawarama gulped but Izuna inhaled and shouted out. "We'll be here when you're done!"

The man laughed and adjusted the blank bandana around his neck. There was plenty of stubble trailing down his throat and across the bottom half of his face. He seemed middle aged, older than Izuna's dad, but still well built. He was dressed like a scouting shinobi, the kind that didn't engage in combat but acted as the eyes and ears for a clan. Izuna had seen this man before and heard Sakura call him Aoi. There was nothing else, no last name, no special ending…

A new thought made Izuna's stomach roll and his expression go taunt. He glared at the man named Aoi and then looked away.

"I'm going to wait here until she's done," he stubbornly declared.

Kawarama looked between the two and then down at the basket in his hands. "What do I do with this?"

Aoi reached down and took it. "I'll put it with her other things. You boys want food, or are you going to plant yourselves here like weeds?"

Izuna didn't want to, but eventually he relented and followed Kawarama and the man to a wood house where they were served meals and told they could sit and wait till Sakura was done. Aoi got his own meal and joined them after a moment.

"So…either of you boys going to tell me what really happened out there?" Aoi asked after half the food was gone.

Kawarama stilled and Izuna bristled. "No! You want to know you can ask Sakura. We're not going to tell you anything. I don't trust you and I don't know you or why you work for Sakura."

"Ah. First off, I don't work for Sakura, she'd hate to hear it put that way, I work  _with_  her. She never asked for anyone to stick around but always offered, so here I am. This is my home now, and I work with her to keep it safe for everyone else."

Izuna didn't like the way Aoi said 'home' like it was something he shared with Sakura. This place was a little village. It wasn't a home for the both of them.

"Second, you don't need to trust me. Sakura trusts me and that's all that matters. You don't want to talk, no one's gonna force you. Sakura is allowed her privacy, but if she's put in danger it's sort of important that people like the guard know to be on the look out for specific enemies."

"There's nothing you need to know," Izuna bit out before going back to what was left of his food.

Kawarama squeaked on the bench beside him and ducked his head to do the same and follow the example of the Uchiha.

Aoi sighed, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender before going back for seconds.

"Suit yourselves. I don't get what these women see in caring for kids. They're always so dang annoying."

"Don't let your wife hear you say that," Sakura interrupted, appearing in the doorway with a sideways grin.

Aoi groaned. "Don't tell her I said that, she'll chew me out for a week."

Sakura grinned wider. "You did a good job watching the boys so I'll let it go. Thanks again, Aoi." She let the older man pass her in the doorway out before moving in to sit down where he once sat. "Sorry I took so long. You enjoy the meal?"

Izuna felt his grin grow. It didn't even bother him that he was sitting next to a Senju. "The best."

After the boys left, with promises they'd keep in touch and visit more than they had, Sakura slept deep and long. She had warned the women in the bath of what was to come, so they knew to keep her windows closed and her door shut. She would be dead to the world for the next day at least.

'That's the fun part about being part god, isn't it? There's such an amazing strain put on your body and your mind. Can you even mentally handle the idea of what you are now?' her inner asked as they drifted through the void.

'I'm nothing more and nothing less than the girl who ripped open a god's shell and killed her.'

'What beautiful words spoken to the cynic. Don't bull shit me, I'm you, remember?'

'It's what I  _believe_.'

Inner Sakura shook her head and shifted blurry and then clear. 'Don't believe in anything. Take what you see as truth and only what you see as truth. I don't give credit to anything else. You're changing still.'

Sakura looked down at her hands. In her dream she was naked and the eyes stared up at her, blinking and wide. They were a soft shade of lavender and looked pretty enough to get trapped in.

Yet they are still young and growing. Using them on Tobirama had felt like spiking her palms with rusty, iron splinters. Her hands still stung, even in dream. She needed to heal and she needed to grow stronger. She would make herself a body filled with immortality an invulnerability.

Why?

Because she could.

To what end?

Sakura had no answer, no reason to justify herself. Power had been a thing she wanted for her friends, to stand shoulder to shoulder with them. But her friends were dead. Her family had all died in that war. All their power couldn't save them and now she had what they had only dreamed of, but it did her no good. Not even she could bring back the dead.

Sakura dreamed of the destruction and cried when the memories got stuck on a loop that repeated the worst parts over and over and over again for her to relive. She felt worn out, more used and exhausted then when she first crawled out of the crater she made in the final fight. Her body was being made stronger, but her mind was assaulted with horror after horror.

'That's the price of godhood.'

'I didn't want this.'

Sakura cries out into the void, knowing it will do her no good. She could think it and the ghost of the rabbit goddess would still hear her. Still, all the same, Sakura whispers the sentence once more.

'I didn't want any of this.'

'And that's why it came to you.'

Somewhere in the dream she felt her body settle, like a weight in the river she hit the bottom and stayed there, letting the mass of the world around her flow by, burying her deeper and deeper into the silt of a cosmic riverbed. She felt the pain of fighting, she felt the pain of exhaustion and saw nothing but terrible memories.

But somewhere in the mess of all that pain, she found six little,white lights to latch onto and hold to her chest. There wer others too, but these lights were just for her. She had her lights and that was what made all the difference in her trial of endurance.

She would endure this pain and madness, she would endure this godhood.

She would endure.

 


	6. Chapter 6

 

 

Madara didn't want to think about the woman from the hedges anymore, but felt forced to. For better or worse she was growing more and more prominent in the lives of the people who were important to Madara. There were few such people, but both his younger brother and best friend seemed somewhat fascinated with the woman.

Damn.

What made it worse was the fact that Izune was being secretive about it. He could understand why Hashirama would maybe want to not mention some things, he was a Senju after all, but Izuna was Madara's blood brother. There wern't supposed to be any secrets between them.

"Where are you going today?" Madara growled from underneath the branch of the tree he was clinging to using chakra. Izuna startled, glancing up and seeing his brother there. If Madara had been the enemy Izuna would have been killed. This woman was making his brother sloppy.

"Ma-Madara!" Izuna gulped and then covered it up with a nervous laugh. "Oh, you know, just going out. You hanging around here for today?"

"Where else would I be?" Madara asked with a sneer, jumping down and flipping so that he landed on his feet in front of his brother.

"Oh, I don't know…you just…sometimes go off…" Izuna looked away, saw no one watching them and then grinned. "You have friends outside the clan, don't you?"

Madara felt a fear deep in the back of his heart. "No! Why would you say something like that?"

"It's not like I care what you do with your own free time anymore, you don't need to get so up and up about it." Izuna smiled easily and clasped his hands behind his back.

Izuna knew. The little shit knew and was being cheeky about it!

"Don't look at me like that. I know better and you don't know anything at all." Madara heard his anger in his own words but didn't care. "Wipe that grin off your face."

"What grin?" Izuna grinned wider.

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

"Of course you don't."

Madara took a step back, spinning to see if there was anyone nearby or drawing close. They were at the edge of camp where it was easiest to sneak away, but they were still in sight of plenty of tents and huts. Someone could catch them having this conversation and the sneaking out would get harder.

"You're going to go visit that woman in the garden, aren't you?" Madara hissed, grabbing his brother by the elbow and dragging him closer to the base of a tree.

Izuna's smile faltered a little, or rather it wobbled. It didn't actually diminish but Madara watched it shift, become softer and weaker. And if that wasn't bad enough there was even a blush to go along with it. Izuna's face was flushed with pink.

"So-so what if I am? I'm not doing anything that would endanger the clan."

"You're terrible," Madara sighed, more to himself than to his brother. "How do you know you're not putting yourself in danger. She's not harmless. She could probably give you a workout if it came to a fight-not that I think you'd loose or anything."

"Sakura would never!"

Madara rushed to drag his brother deeper into the bushes. "Shut up!" he hissed, glancing back to see if they had been noticed. "Think about where you are, brat."

Izuna glared and shook his brother off. "You're the one spouting nonsense. I've been going there for weeks now. She's never been anything less than perfectly kind and honest with me. The only thing wrong with her is how trusting she is of those Senju brats that visit her when I'm not there." Izuna's hands curled into fists. "One of them could be there right now."

"So? You can just leave them alone. What's one witch to a rag tag clan filled with crap fighters?" Madara didn't even feel bad about what he said in regards to Hashirama's clan. He was friends with the boy, but still hated the family.

"One of them stabbed her in the heart recently. The white haired one, Tobirama did it. He tried to kill her when she hadn't even aggravated him or given him a reason for it! They'll try it again."

"Oh? When did this happen?" Madara asked, taking a step back in interest.

He hadn't heard about this yet. If she turned on the Senju clan there was a chance she could be swayed to help the Uchiha. The Senju already had healers, but if the Uchiha made use of one it could be the grain that tipped the scales in war.

Izuna shrugged, looking away. "Three days ago."

"If she got stabbed badly she's probably still resting. What are you doing still going there? She needs to heal from that." If she wasn't a ninja like them it could take her weeks to recover from such a wound. Madara knew Tobirama wasn't a pot shot when it came to his swordplay.

"She's fine. She's just been sleeping this whole time. I saw her heal the wound, it burned up almost instantly after she pulled the blade out. There was so much blood and I thought there would be a big gash, like the kind swords leave behind…but her wound was steaming like tea and then the skin was pink and smooth again. She healed faster than even Hashirama."

"She's fine? Where did she get stabbed?" Madara asked, eyes narrowed.

Izuna pointed to his heart. "It went all the way through."

Madara felt a little sick, remembering his youngest brother, the one Izuna could scarcely recall. His body had been so small and that sword so long…there was no way it could have missed his heart. Such an attack should have meant death to a man or woman out of armor. How was she still alive?

"If she's sleeping there's no use in you going there to see her."

"But she might wake up today."

"Or you might just disrupt her sleep. Stay here. Father is speaking with the elders about what to do if peace talks fall through like last time. We could be moving out in as little as a day's time."

"You heading out soon?" Izuna asked, voice a pitch higher than usual. His grin was wide and mocking. "Should I ask dad if you need a companion?" It wasn't even really a question.

"You're not listening to what I'm saying!"

"No, I'm not, because I'm leaving and you can follow or find out who dad gets more pissed off at, the son who visits witches or the son who visits Senju. Either way, your secret will never be the same again. Is your vindictiveness worth it?"

Madara just growled.

 

* * *

Sakura woke in the morning several days later, feeling sunlight on her face and something stiff next to her scalp. She reached up and felt a thin braid plaited into the side of her head down the entire length. Her hair had grown in the three and a half years since Sakura first came to the other world. It used to be cut to her shoulders, but now it was long enough to reach her waist. It grew so much when she was sleeping.

Sakura sat up and a handful of old flowers fell away, having lost their place in her nest of hair. She ran her fingers through the strands and felt more catch in her hand.

"Izuna."

Sakura looked off to the side to see one of the nursing mothers push back the door to the room and change out a bucket of water that had been left on the night table. The older woman grinned and nodded to the flowers left on the floor.

"That boy comes almost every morning now to check in on you like he thought we were lying to him when we said you were fine and so much sleeping was normal. Poor kid, I'm sure he was looking forward to being here when you woke up."

"This was all from Izuna?" Sakura asked, voice light and airy. She felt out of place, like she was still filling up her body.

"Not just him, but the other two boys from the Senju clan would come in and check too. Izuna would always leave once Kawarama and Itame showed up. He was polite about it, but he's still not ready to be kind to the other boys." The woman set the water containers aside and approached Sakura's bedside. "How are you feeling today, Sakura san?"

"Distant, I don't…know. I'm a bit groggy right now."

_'Wrong-you feel wrong.'_

"You've been sleeping nearly a week."

"That's one of my longer sleeps," Sakura hadn't slept that long in a while. Usually if she went for an extended slumber it was three or four days, rarely more than five.

Sakura held up her hand and looked at the palm where a long slit rested in it's closed position. She flexed her fingers and the eye didn't shift until she willed it to. It came open with a snap that was immediate and dizzying. The other eye followed soon after and she felt them grow darker in color, from empty silver to a darker lavender.

Inhaling sharply Sakura closed both eyes and fell back into her covers, too groggy to get out of bed so soon. She felt for the braid at the side of her head and pet it back while listening to Miko work in the background.

"How is your child, Miko?" Sakura asked, not moving but turning her head.

Sakura offered a hand, palm up and the old woman paused in what she was doing to approach. Sakura poured warm green chakra into the woman's swollen tummy and found the life force happy to respond.

"He's so lively today," Sakura quipped in surprise, not expecting the eager greeting.

"He's been kicking a lot more."

"That's a good sign, he sounds healthy in there. You're going to have a healthy young son in a couple of months, maybe less."

"We would be so happy to have a son, but I wouldn't be disappointed if it was a girl."

Sakura chuckled, dropping her hand back to the bed. "Girl or boy, I could see the baby by feeling with my chakra and there's a tiny penis in there. Take it as you will." Sakura didn't want to get into the details of gender and sexual identity in a period where most people didn't believe in equal rights of the sexes, much less-

Sakura sat up coughing and something wet came up, staining the covers red as she hacked up the bloody mucus. Miko was rushing over with a cloth that Sakura pressed to her mouth. It grew red around her lips and she felt it turn heavy in her hand. She was hacking up the old parts of her, the parts she replaced.

'It hurts to be a god.'

Sakura glared at the wall, pretending it was the voice in her head.

"Are you alright, Sakura san? You're hacking up blood." Miko sounded worried and was looking at the blood stains with wide eyes.

"No, it's not a bad thing, it's good that I got this out. It looks terrible but this is…this is what needed to happen. My body has healed." Sakura waved her hand and coughed once more, this time without the blood. "This is old."

"Then I'd best help clean you up. We'll need to wash these sheets and I dare say your teeth look like they took to a bleeding pomegranate or two." The older woman huffed in agitation and started to pull the sheets away.

Sakura wanted to stay in bed a bit longer, but she couldn't watch the swelled woman work when her baby was only two months away, so Sakura rose to help. Together the pair pulled the sheets out and Sakura carried them to the stream that fed into the one where she had first met Izuna. This branch of it ran through her garden and was easier to wash at. Sakura took over once they arrived and set to scrubbing her sheets clean with the raw soap in the river. Her hands felt chapped by the time she was done and it was no longer early morning, but the sun was still climbing.

Sakura went back to change in her room and dress for work. On her bed there were discarded flowers she had left behind from whenever the boys dressed her hair. There were still a few flowers stuck in the strands, but most were on the bed or on the floor.

Sakura watched herself in the mirror, checking to see all her movement was in place, and her range wasn't diminished from the attack. There wasn't even a scar, but when she turned into the light just right, a patch of thin skin was shiner than the rest. It looked healthier than the rest of her skin, if she was being honest with herself.

There was something deep in her gut that made her grimace though, and it wasn't something she could see. She felt off, less groggy and more unbalanced with the rest of the word. Something was off.

The sun was peaking in the sky and Sakura could hear people in her garden preparing for lunch.

'Funny, no one's visited me today.' Sakura pretended she wasn't disappointed.

Outside, plenty of people were running around. Sakura frowned, catching the arm of an older sentry that worked alongside Aoi. "Chito, why are people so fluttery today?"

"You don't think it's just cause you woke up?" the older man laughed, scratching the back of his head.

Sakura smiled but crossed her arms over her chest and waited.

"Ah, sorry miss. The other sentries caught movement. It looks like the Senju clan and the Uchiha clan are finished with talks and they're going to either engage or leave the valley."

Sakura swallowed, feeling the throat dry. "When?"

Chito shrugged. "Maybe today, maybe tomorrow."

"Do you know what the verdict is? What do the others think?" Peace or War?

"You can watch for yourself." He pointed to where Aoi perched at the edge of the garden's innermost illusions. "Or ask the man himself."

Sakura thanked Chito and made her way over to where Aoi stood, listening to his birds and watching the images they fed straight into his brain. He seemed highly absorbed in what he was doing so she waited.

A moment later he blinked and looked away from the hedges to notice her waiting at his side. "You're awake. The ladies were tittering about it so I should have expected as much. No child to spirit away today?"

"What did you see?" Sakura asked, tone strong enough to let him know she wasn't in the mood to tease just yet. Her eyes were wide, searching for signs of war.

"Nothing today. They're preparing though. I thought it was to pack up and move at first, but it's the other kind of preparing they're doing. Tomorrow morning, first light and you'll be sure to see some bloodshed."

Sakura thought it was funny how they weren't going to strike like a knife in the dark, the way ninja were famous for, before remembering the era. Maybe there would be a few attacks in the night, but the morning would bring the bloodshed into the light and make a show out of it. Armor never saw so much use as in the warring era.

"Are you going to get the children?"

Sakura looked up in surprise. "What?"

"Are you going to extract those kids? They're all, even the little ones, going out tomorrow."

_If only she could._

Itame and Kawarama both died young. It was Izuna's fate to die under the sword of Tobirama. That's how history told it and didn't she hear somewhere how dangerous it was to alter history? War was made out of killing. It was too much to have all of them survive when not even Naruto could make it.

_'But this isn't your history and it's not even your world. There's nothing for you to alter.'_

"Where is the disputed lands?" Sakura asked after a moment, shutting her eyes like it would help her brace for the answer. War will war rip open a wound on our ugly world.

"You're going there?"

"I don't know what I'm doing."

Sakura sighed, shaking her head. She didn't feel right about going in and making herself known to prevent things that had already happened in her own history. She didn't feel right about the voice in her head or the eyes in her hands. She didn't feel right about how close she had already grown with these kids after loosing her family. She didn't feel right about most things.

Aoi nodded, looking past her shoulder and pointing. "Maybe hold off on that, you got a visitor."

Sakura turned and saw little Kawarama at the edge, holding something in his arms and looking lost. He peered around and stiffened when he saw her, but then the smile took over her face and he started running towards her, loosing flowers from his arms as he went.

Sakura bent down and braced as he impacted with her, dropping all his flowers to hug her. Sakura held him so easily to her chest and thought to herself how she'd miss it when he died. Her arms would be empty once more.

"Kawarama." Sakura whispered his name into his hair.

"You're awake! I knew the flowers would work. Itame said these were not sleeping flowers, so I thought they might help you wake up." He pulled away and grinned. "I was right."

"What are you wearing, Kawarama?" Sakura asked.

She pulled away even more and looked down at the armor. It was so small and fit too well. How did they even make armor that small? He was a child. He wasn't even old enough to graduate from the academy.

"Don't I look great? I'm going to help dad tomorrow. He's finally letting me. Itame has some too, but he's fought before, so mine is the shinier plate." He pointed to the gleaming parts and beamed in pride. He was finally good enough to be useful to his father.

"You're going to fight," Sakura sighed, feeling dread bite her heart.

"Yeah!"

Sakura grabbed his hands and pressed them together between her own two hands. She kissed his folded fingers and screwed her eyes as she concentrated on the prayer. She prayed for his safety, she prayed he wouldn't be noticed, she prayed he would be safe, she prayed he would live. He was one of her silver lights.

"Sakura chan?"

"I don't want you to ever be hurt. I wish I could stop you, or protect you." She looked up and managed a sad smile.

"You're not a warrior, Sakura chan! You're a fairy doctor, just like the healers in my clan except you're not old with wrinkles or boring smelling."

Sakura gasped a laugh at the last phrase. "How does someone become boring smelling?" she asked.

"You know, they smell like boring stuff. Dusty!"

"Kawarama," Sakura chuckled, amazed by his childlike way of viewing the world. "I don't want to let you go."

"You have to, my dad needs me. My brothers need me, too!" He pulled away to reach down and pick up a new flower. "But I'll come back when I'm done and you can talk to me then."

"You have to!" Sakura felt her words trip and choke in her throat when she tried to tell him, 'don't die.' It was such a strange thing to have to say to a boy only just turned seven years old. "I'll be so lonely without you to visit me."

"I'll bring my brothers next time. Itame said he wanted to learn more about healing and I think even Hashirama-nii wanted to come. He got so angry with Tobi-nii after he heard what happened. They fight a lot but this time Tobi-nii was sorry."

"I'm not angry about anything that happened. I want to see you and your brother soon, so come back safe."

"Ah, but if I get a cut, will you heal it? I think I might get a little hurt even though I'll be with Itame. He said I had to stay with him in the corner."

"Stay with him, then."

Kawarama pouted cutely and then nodded.

"I wish you didn't have to fight at all," Sakura added.

"I have to help my family. I have to."

_'Because that's how the story goes.'_

Sakura swallowed when she heard the voice in her head again. The words were almost a song, the way they echoed in pitch. It was getting harder to tell if it was inner Sakura or the mood goddess singing in her head.

Sakura stood up and offered the younger boy her hand. "Come on, I'll walk you back home. You need to have a good dinner and a good sleep tonight. Don't stay up and don't wander."

"All the way? Are you going to meet my dad?" Kawarama's eyes seemed to go wide at the idea.

"Maybe, but not today. I don't think it's a good idea if he knew about me so soon. You remember there are some bad, not true, rumors about me he might have heard. I don't want him to be scared like Tobirama was."

Kawarama nodded, taking her hand and walking casually out of the garden along her side. "Yeah, that's a good point. He's a lot like Tobirama. Neither of them ever want to smile. They say it's cause they miss mom, but they should just find a new person if they're lonely, like how I found you."

Sakura wanted to rip her heart out, it hurt too much. Like it or not, she had altered this world and was a part of it now. It might not be her history, but Sakura had a feeling in her gut she knew what tomorrow would bring. The world wasn't meant for too much happiness.

The voice was back in her head, singing in an off key pitch too sickly to be sweet.

' _Something's got to go~that's how the story goes, that's how it's told_.'

* * *

"They're fighting," Aoi told her when she rushed outside, still in her sleeping yukata and outer robes. Her hair was wild and a mess around her, but she brushed it out of her face and ignored it past that.

"Who's side?" she asked.

"It's hard to say now, but the casualties are light for both. The Senju have heartier fighters, but the Uchiha are a slight larger in size. They could overpower them early on, or the Senju could outlast them. It's tough to say." Aoi spoke with a voice hardened from experience. He was reporting and there was no room in his tone for emotion.

Sakura started to move out of her garden, down to the ledge overlooking the field when his hand on her elbow stopped her. "I don't want you going out there. You'll be spotted and there will be questions once they see you. Are you ready for that?"

"This place was made to help the wounded, I'm not going to hide or take sides in this, but I can't just watch this."

"Maybe you should." He let her go but his tone wasn't light. "Watch this time and let them come to you if they can. No one asked you to help them, and many of them would slit your throat before you could offer to help. They're not the trusting type when it comes to strangers."

"I didn't ask them to trust me, but I need to do this. Let me go." It wasn't a command, but her tone matched his and it was clear she wouldn't let him tell her what to do.

Aoi took a step back, his hands at his sides. He wasn't going to stop her and she wasn't going to hesitate anymore. Still, she thanked him with a nod and stepped down, breaking out into a jog that carried her far enough to where she could see the ledge overlooking the clearing.

The smell was familiar, but unique in it's own way. Body fluids, gore, blood, it was a stain in the air. The soil was soaking in it. She heard a horse cry out somewhere and wondered what it was doing when she remembered how such beasts of burden were traditional figureheads in such dated battles. Someone was probably riding around on a horse with the clan flag still in the air, flapping from a banner.

Sakura stopped, catching herself before she entered visibility. She could see bits and pieces from her vantage point, but not enough. She ran her hand down and through her hair, catching it like a rope and turning it over itself before knotting it at the base of her neck to keep from flying into her face.

Sakura dropped to her knees and approached the edge of the ledge where she could best see the chaos of the battlefield. Even if she was spotted, she was a girl in a nightgown and robe. There were more important things to be looking at than girls in gray yukatas in a far away man's brain.

Sakura could tell easily who was Uchiha and who was Senju. They weren't difficult to distinguish. It was like Aoi had said, the Uchiha had the numbers but the Senju were the heartier bunch. But in addition to Aoi's assessment, Sakura noticed that there were tiers of fighters. The strongest in the Senju clan were fighting the strongest in the Uchiha clan. The weakest in each clan were also squaring off and rarely did different caliber fighters engage. Whenever someone tried to switch to a weaker fighter, someone on their level would swoop in and intercept.

It was effective strategy that worked well for the Senju, who benefited from a prolonged fight. They had the stamina that outpaced the Uchiha, but the Uchiha had the numbers and were not to be looked down on in skill. They were wielding fire and steel with equal ferocity.

There were plenty of bodies already on the ground. There were more Uchiha than Senju, but it was a close call to make. Many of the bodies, to Sakura's horror, were small and slight in stature. Some of them were clearly children, while others were maybe teenagers with a handful being full grown adults. This war was weeding out the youth but neither side seemed to care.

An Uchiha youth went down and a wave of water carried his limp body away. A Senju teenager tried to go after a younger Uchiha and caught a roaring fireball in the back of his head from an Uchiha he had previously entangled with. Sakura felt a stab in her heart when she feared it was Hashirama, before the boy fall onto his back and showed a face she didn't recognize. She had to hold her chest and remember better. Hashirama wasn't that tall yet.

Where were the boys?

Sakura felt more invisible pain in her heart as she scanned the battlefield for heads she recognized. Izuna and Madara were hard to pick out, there was little to set them apart from all the other Uchiha from far away, but Sakura recognized the way Izuna ducked and moved before she recognized Madara's shrill cries. They were close to each other, working like a team.

Sakura kept looking. No one she recognized was close to where Madara and Izuna tag teamed the enemy Senju boys. She was grateful for that, even as another nameless male fell dead and limp.

'A male with a name you just don't know. A boy with a family, with friends, with a life that will never be fully realized. He probably had dreams, too.'

Sakura wanted to retch in her guilt.

War did not get easier or prettier the more she survived. It was still ugly and nasty and as cold and angry as the old gods said it would be. It was still as terrifying and cruel as she remembered it. It only helped that she didn't mourn for every fallen friend. At least in this war she could forget the dead faces a little easier.

'I won't let you.'

Sakura shut her eyes, shook the tears free, and breathed deep. Her fingers were buried in the dirt and grass like it was all that kept her from falling away. She smelled the death in her inhale, but forced her face up. She forced her eyes open. She forced herself to search the carnage once more for boys she recognized.

As she suspected, Hashirama and his brother Tobirama were closer to each other. They were working together much like Izuna and his brother Madara had been. The jutsu were different, but the bond was the same. Neither Senju son looked ready to go down soon and Sakura remembered seeing them in the last war, reanimated and fierce with an aura that had grown up alongside war and death. This was their domain. Of course they were fine.

Black and white hair was supposed to stand out, but it took her longer to spot Itame in the field. He was further back, more easilly defended with so many other Senju close by. It made her breath a little easier. He was smaller than his brothers and not as skilled. He didn't seem like a terrible ninja in combat, and Sakura knew he had a sharp mind, but he was young. He was so young and this wasn't fair to him. He was just a kid.

'Where is Kawarama?' she asked herself, hoping it would help her find the boy with a smile as bright as any blossom. Where was the boy too proud to help his father by dying. The boy history forgot.

Kawarama should have been close to Itame, but Sakura scanned the surrounding area and couldn't see Kawarama anywhere close to his brother. There were more Senju and then a cluster of Uchiha, and Sakura had to look longer and closer to the front to see his pale ash blond hair and too shiny armor. He was closer to the front lines, but on the far side where the fighting wasn't so bad. He was actually in one of the closest clusters to the ledge where Sakura was watching from.

She breathed a sigh to see him standing stout and holding his sword with vigor. He darted easily enough, using his speed to his advantage. But he was so young and so small, and his speed was great until it was compared to an adult's. He was corralled out further and further away from the main bulk of Senju forces and towards the edges of the battlefield.

And then, just like yesterday the voice was back in her head, singing in an off key pitch too sickly to be sweet. ' _Something's got to go~that's how the story goes, that's how it's told_.'

Sakura watched as Kawarama's armor shattered and a second blade ripped into his chest. It was a quick thrust, a punctured heart later, the blade withdrew, shredding everything on the way out. Kawarama's body was so little, the damage was too much.

He fell.

He was small enough to hold and carry. He fit in her arms but he was on the ground. She'd never be able to hold him again. She'd never hear his voice. The things he wanted to tell her, the flowers he said he'd bring her… all his dreams and delights were nothing anymore.

'Your fault.'

She had made her choice. She had failed to act and this was the result.

'This is history,' she tried to tell herself as the tears came down.

'This is your choice. You chose this. His death is yours to hold. What will you do with it now, moon goddess?' Kaguya asked, voice sweet and soft in its mockery. How dare she call Sakura a goddess when all Sakura felt was powerless.

Sakura burned.

She only shifted a little bit, lifted off her knees, but that was all it took to flicker down to the battlefield. She was at the edge and no one moved towards her, no one recognized her or seemed to mind her as she stumbled towards the fallen boy's body.

Sakura could feel all the veins in her body go still and taunt, like they were the threads that held her together and someone was pulling them out of her. She fell into the mud and grabbed for his body. His eyes were still open, not wide, but open and searching in a frozen glassy haze.

Sakura cradled the back of his skull and pulled him up to her, laying his chest over her knees. With one free hand she poured her chakra into his heart and tried to piece it back together, like the fleshy parts of a puzzle. The cells were still. His body was unmoving. She could grow and stimulate new parts of him, but he was dead. He was empty.

No.

There had to be something she could do! She didn't want this, she didn't want this to happen. She had come down her to-she had meant to-she had-she had-she-s-s-shit!

Sakura flared her chakra and poured more of it into his body but there was nothing she could do but spill out her energy.

"Damn it, wake up you brat. You're supposed to come back and visit me. You said you would bring me more flowers. You said it yesterday, I just saw you. You wanted me to meet your dad and you said you were going to stay with your brother. I made you promise to stay with Itame. You said you were going to stay with him! You're not supposed to die like this, you're a kid. You're just a damn kid."

Sakura gasped, unable to breath. She looked up, face wet with tear and saw bodies fighting around her. No one stopped for her. No one seemed to feel her pain with her or care that a child too young to have all his adult teeth was dead in the mud for a war no one could understand or justify.

'What would you give to undo this?' Kaguya asked like she was standing right there. Sakura didn't look up, didn't search for the goddess' phantom, but cradled Kawarama closer.

"Anything."

An Uchiha saw her cradling the body of a fallen Senju and finally turned to her. She wasn't worth more than a stray kunai to him, as he tossed it towards her head. Maybe he thought he would put her out of her misery.

Sakura turned like a switch to the point of the knife and her third eye split open, spewing black fire that devoured the metal before it could impact. A wicket trail of black flame flickered around her, dancing high in the face of the assaulting Uchiha who was suddenly very aware of her and very shocked to see the black fire and the spinning red Rinne Sharingan.

A nearby Senju turned at the sight and heat of black fire to see a girl on the ground holding one of his own, a dead Senju boy, in her bloody hands. The red Rinne Sharingan in the center of her forehead was hard to miss as he flew into a flurry of hand signs that summoned mud to drown her in.

Sakura didn't move as wood grew up around her and pushed the mud back like a giant hand would bat away a fly. The wood grew longer and larger, swelling to near bursting before its edges split into a hundred different spikes that sent anyone nearby back a few feet.

The girl with the dead boy in her arms had gained attention and the attention was contagious as more and more of the fighting turned to observe the newcomer.

Sakura felt lost in her body, pushed aside. Everything was dark around her, but she wasn't gone. Around her was another body, a woman's body, floating down over Sakura. Kaguya was around and above Sakura, a guiding force that dipped into these powers easily.

'You have much to learn and I have much to show you,' she cooed, sounding to enjoy herself for the first time since Sakura had killed the goddess.

The wood spread fast and far, growing over feet and grabbing legs, holding men in place. The fire snaked out to case those the wood missed back into the path of her ever growing wood release technique.

Sakura had a moment when she remembered bodies hanging in cocoons and recognized the wood release technique, but Kaguya cooed again and then chuckled.

'I don't need to do that this time,' she laughed in Sakura's brain.

There were only a handful of shinobi from either side that weren't trapped by her wood, but all had been caught in the circle of her ever stretching black fire.

"Kawarama!"

Sakura looked up at the sound of the name and saw a man, older, dressed in the Senju clan crest and wearing armor fine enough to make him a clan leader. The features resembled Hashirama more than Kawarama, but Sakura didn't doubt the man trapped in her wood was Kawarama's father.

Sakura felt her teeth elongate as she bared them. Points peeked through her hair from the top of her forehead, crusting over into dark brown horns.

"You," she seethed. "You led him to this. You put him in this armor and you sent him out here to this damn hell to fight and die for what? For WHAT?"

Sakura shrieked, chakra erratic around her. Her wood kept growing as her seal drained to feed her fury.

Sakura looked off and saw another man dressed finely enough to be a clan leader. He had been fighting the Senju head in his own armor painted with the Uchiha fan. His sons were looking to him, not far behind, glancing back over at Sakura and their their father. Izuna's eyes were irritated as the wood circled around him, not trapping him or Madara. Unconsciously, Itame, Tobirama and Hashirama had been left free. There were other children too who stood free.

"What the hell were your fighting for?" she seethed at the Uchiha head. Her eyes were stinging and her palms itched.

"Who are you?" the Uchiha asked her, eyes wide but also narrowed. He was full of question but also healthy caution. He wasn't about to be taken unaware.

"She's an Uchiha!" one of the Senju shouted, trying to pull himself up and away from the black fire. His left leg was a mess and there was blood running down one half of his face. "Kill her!"

"No, she's a Senju, the wood is still growing. Quick, before she swallows us all-" The Uchiha was pulled down by her wood and struggled as it grew over his chest.

"Who are you?" Kawarama's father asked her, closer than the Uchiha clan head. "What are you to my son?" At his side Itame reached for his father's pant leg, but was waved off like a gnat.

Sakura felt tight and hot and cold and far and here and there. Kaguya was laughing in her head and the whispers were as close as words could be.

'There is no hiding anymore. They will never love you, but they may yet still fear you. Half gods may be worshiped on this earth with love and with pale flowers, but only the real gods are worth their glory, and they are worshiped in what, Sakura?'

Sakura remembered the words even though she didn't know how she could have that knowledge. 'Fear and blood.'

Sakura looked up at the clan head from where she knelt in the mud and let her chakra spark around her in wasteful display. She bared her pointed teeth and knew her horns were still growing out of her skull, pale and ash colored now. Soon they would be white. She held Kawarama closer to her chest.

'Fear and blood, my love.'

Fear and blood.

'You know what you must do.'

Sakura's voice was not her own, echoing in a tone beyond her vocal abilities. "I… am the god of this mountain." Kawarama was still limp, but she tugged him ever closer. "And I'm the one who's going to care for this one from now on."

He looked like he wanted to say something about his dead son, maybe point out that he was dead, but Sakura didn't let him have the chance. She roared and the wood broke all around her as everyone in hearing range was thrown back, off their feet, including Izuna and the other boys. Everyone landing in a mess around her, surrounded by shattered wood as white as bleached bone shards.

With the new space Sakura began to feel even more of her control go to the rabbit goddess. Kaguya laughed deep as a skeleton form grew out of black flame around Sakura, filling in with green coloring as Sakura's chakra manifested a Susanoo form made of bones, then body, than armor and wings, appearing too much like Kaguya with long hair, horns and all the characteristics and physical features that made her stand out in their fight years ago.

Sakura was inside her chakra, feeling it drain faster than ever as Kaguya moved her like like a puppet. Sakura let go and fell out of control as the rabbit goddess used her new body to tear a hole through the fabric of some layer to reality. It fell apart with a rip that tore through her ears and left the world gaping.

Sakura stared into the void birthed just under her and saw a form just as long and large as Kaguya, holding onto a ghost of Kawarama. The figure stilled, looking up. His body was clothed in a white robe and his mask was a death mask. Between his teeth was the soul cutting sword. He hadn't sliced Kawarama's spirit free from his body.

" _This one is mine to reap_ ," the figure spoke in a thunder.

Sakura surged to control and piloted her massive body into the void, overtaking Kawarama's ghost form and getting right up into the face of the death god.

"This one is mine!" Sakura growled in possessive fury, bearing her fangs and then pulling her lips back as she roared into the face of the mask of death like she was some feral beast. She felt the horns on her head grow longer and thicker.

"He's mine!"

Kaguya's Susanoo form bled white and began to bleach out the darkness, growing brighter and brighter, illuminating the uncut lines to souls of fallen Senju and Uchiha alike. So many were ripe for reaping but Sakura just cared about the one in her hands.

" **MINE**!"

The death God shrieked, cast back from the light as Sakura grabbed hold of Kawarama's soul and slipped backwards out of the void, only for it to seal up with a hiss the moment her body came free.

'What would you give to undo this? Do you remember when I asked you that, Sakura?'

Sakura did.

Susanoo began to rapidly peel away, first the armor, than the skin, then when all was left was the bones, the last thing to fizzle away was the ribcage. Sakura touched the ground and then sank to her knees, still holding the limp body. She was shaking around Kawarama's form, feeling the tingle of another world still on her skin. She had never dreamed of such a horror or of having such courage to do as Kaguya had instructed her to.

Warm.

Sakura looked down, eyes a mess of tears as she felt the skin of Kawarama warm under her touch. She touched his face and his head turned, lips parted, fingers twitched. His body reacted. He reacted. His eyes were closed and he was wincing. He was alive. He was back from the dead, he was alive!

'Don't forget your promise to me.'

Sobbing like she had a right to, Sakura rose with the body in her arms and started to walk back. Neither Uchiha nor Senju moved to stop her, not even the father of the boy in her arms. Sakura was too happy to care, and too overjoyed to noticed the figures in the armies lower to their knees as she passed. She never looked back and never stopped.

'Fear and blood.'

They will never love you now.

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Under the Rabbit Moon VII**

* * *

Sakura looked down, eyes a mess of tears as she felt the skin of Kawarama warm under her touch. She touched his face and his head turned, lips parted, fingers twitched. His body reacted. He reacted. His eyes were closed and he was wincing. He was alive. He was back from the dead, he was alive!

_'Don't forget your promise to me.'_

Sobbing like she had a right to, Sakura rose with the body in her arms and started to walk back. Neither Uchiha nor Senju moved to stop her, not even the father of the boy in her arms. Sakura was too happy to care, and too overjoyed to noticed the figures in the armies lower to their knees as she passed. She never looked back and never stopped.

_'Fear and blood.'_

* * *

Sakura grew a tree around her, the kind wide and thick enough to sleep inside of, and that's what she did, with a young Kawarama in her arms as the nearly depleted seal started to fill up with chakra again. The juice of the tree was soft around her, semi solid and bloating around her like a mattress or a slumbering heart. There were thrums of life all around her as hours turned into days and days into weeks. A month, then two. Her companion woke after a few days, but she slept on.

'They're outside again.'

In the void of her sleep Sakura turned over, ignoring the memories eating out her stomach like sharks with three rows of teeth. Every damn sleep was like this anymore. Something always ate away at her soul, and most sleeps it felt like dogs or lions digging into her bodies. She had been pulled apart, pierced, and clawed apart more than she could remember. It didn't hurt anymore, but it had in the beginning. It was better this than the replay of Naruto's death, or Sasuke's. Watching any of her boys fall again was worse than being eaten alive.

'What?'

'I know you're still tired, but you've rested enough. The seal is half filled. That's impressive, so why don't you just wake up? There are people outside the tree again, or did you forget what you screamed when you were high on the rabbit woman's influence?' Inner Sakura danced over Sakura's prone form, uninjured and free. 'God of the mountain? Don't make me laugh. You're a mess, so get up and fix it.'

Sakura glared. 'It's easy to say that, not so easy to do.'

Inner Sakura waved a hand in front of her face, leaning in closer. 'It's no easier or harder once you understand what you are now. Suffer if you think you need to, but that's not going to bring your family back. There are new ones out there now, and they're making a mess of the world without you to yell at them for it.'

'Sharks.'

It was all Sakura said before closing her eyes and choosing to ignore the black and white image of her created, secondary personality. She kept her eyes closed and let the sharks tear at her. There would always be more of her for them to bite into.

Her seal had recovered almost a year's worth of chakra from inside the tree, and that was partly in thanks to the energy her tree siphoned from the nature around her. Being asleep and dedicating 100% of her generated chakra to the seal sped things along as well. Her stores were deepening, as they always did after emptying, but she still was far from Naruto's reserves.

The sharks stopped eating and Sakura looked up, opening her eyes. Inner Sakura stood over their dead forms with a sword dripping shark blood. She turned to glare down at Sakura.

'More will come thanks to your depression, but you need to snap out of it.'

'What are you doing'

'Shut up and let me talk. You need to go out there and wake up. The world is breaking up again thanks to you're light show, so take some responsibility and freaking fix it!'

Sakura felt herself, now whole again, being picked up and slammed back down into the floor. The blackness cracked under here and spiderwebs of white light bled through. Inner roared and picked Sakura up once more before slamming her down atop the crack again and again, growing it, until she slammed her one final time and the dream was shattered.

Sakura turned over in bed and felt the heart of the tree under her shudder and still. She was awake, the tree was quickly becoming a thing of the earth. When she sat up there were veins of green and gold running through her back into the tree. She turned and they broke away like dead branches, no longer useful.

She had gone to sleep inside the tree wearing clothes, but when she moved the fabric fell away in ribbons. She had done something in her sleep to destroy it all, leaving her in little. The horns were still in place too, but when she reached up to grab them she felt a lack of connection. Like the elk who shed in the spring, she pulled her horns off and they came away clean with a snap as crisp as cellery.

'Where did I grow this tree?' Sakura asked, praying it was close to where she could sneak away.

Inner Sakura's tone was akin to one sulking. 'You're in your garden, but the genjutsu's been all but stripped away. You'll see it's not as privet as you once assumed it to be.'

Sakura remembered the feeling of dread and recognized it as it pooled in her gut. She remembered cutting herself off from everything to focus only on refilling her seal. Inner Sakura had called it a mess, so what did she mean?

Sakura reached up and found the interior of her tree was coated in a white, sticky substance. She dug her nails in behind it and started to peel it away. It came apart like wet paper that dried in seconds. The layer behind it was wood. The second her fingers touch it the wood quivered and began to seep golden yellow sap. A tear appeared, growing from fist sized to body length. Sakura reached out to pry it open further until it was wide enough for her to slip through. There was sunlight, warm and bright streaming through. Her tree had been bright enough on it's own, but this was sunlight, and made her eyes wince.

Taking a final breath, Sakura peeled the tree open and stepped out, feeling the bark under her bare feet before touching down on the grass underneath. Her long hair came trailing after. Sakura took a fist full to drag over her shoulders and hide what her scraps of clothing didn't. It had grown long enough to drag across the ground behind her.

The land around her was recognizable. She knew exactly where in her garden she was, understanding why she would think to plant a sleeping tree so close to a corner with little else. She was far from the business and the houses, but not by much. She was far from her house with clothes, but she was also far from where she would be spotted. At least the houses seemed in one piece still. No obvious signs of carnage.

There was a cry behind her and Sakura had the sickening suspicion that she had been spotted when a handful of new bodies started to appear outside the houses; most of them she recognized; not all of them.

A mass of bodies refused to draw closer but Sakura recognized Aoi and Miko at the front. Miko looked ready to pop and Sakura suspected the woman was due any day now, but she was tottering out after her husband on the arm of another woman helper. She shouldn't be running or even fast walking like that.

Close behind Aoi there were two men bearing clan symbols Sakura recognized with displeasure. The Uchiha and the Senju both had left behind a member to keep an eye on her. There were other Senju and Uchiha in the crowd behind them, but the overwhelming majority were the faces of people and patients she had helped before.

"Sakura," Aoi gaped, skidding to a halt close enough to reach out and touch while the Senju and Uchiha stopped just short of that. Miko pushed past them angrily, kicking one in the side and throwing off her attendant to reach out and grab for Sakura.

"Stupid girl! What have you done to yourself?"

"The baby!" Sakura hissed, moving away and reaching for the swell of the woman's stomach. Sakura felt the form and sent out chakra to see inside. Kneeling Sakura pressed her ear close and picked up on more details. He was low, he was ready to come soon.

Sakura glared up at Miko. "Stupid woman, you shouldn't be out here like this. Why aren't you on bedrest?"

"Stupid-wh-me?" The woman sputtered in surprise. "Look at her, Aoi, talking to me like that. You'd think I was some crazy loon she has to treat."

Sakura stood , keeping one hand on the stomach and looked back over Miko's shoulder to the Uchiha and Senju. She felt Sakura's stare and Miko turned around to glare at them as well.

"Don't worry, they're stubborn, but we've not had any problem with them yet. They refused to leave until you woke."

"I'm awake, they can leave," Sakura grumbled. Then she remembered. "Oh, Kawarama, where is he? Kawarama. What happened to him?"

Aoi and his wife grinned as another pair of young nurses Sakura had been training finally reached them, followed by another sentry Sakura had saved many months back.

"He's perfectly fine, worried about you, but they made him go back after he woke up and none of the children have been allowed back since the incident."

Sakura tensed, eyes suddenly narrowed on the Senju scout. She took a single step around Miko and both he and the Uchiha fell into similar face to the earth bows, hands prostrated on the ground ahead of them. The Uchiha and the Senju who hung back followed their example and soon even the patients, some of which Sakura had known for months, all fell on their faces. The two nurses dropped to their knees and the sentry bowed low as well. Only Aoi and Miko stayed standing.

Aoi started to bend his knee but Sakura turned to him suddenly and stopped him with a look. "No, not you, never you." She shared her look with Miko, who stared back unflinching. "And never you, too. I don't want to ever been seen differently."

"It's a little late for that," Miko sighed, glancing back at the swarm of bodies on the ground, bent in respect. "Let's get you into something warmer and we'll talk in detail."

Sakura took a hot bath, dressed, and ate with the small collection of people who would look her in the eye without falling to their knees in reverence.

'Fear and blood,' the rabbit goddess cackled in Sakura's mind.

Aoi, Miko, and the few Sakura had worked closely with in the past all helped her understand what happened during her sleep. Kawarama had woken a couple days after she grew her tree to sleep inside of. The tree had spit him out when he tried to wake Sakura, according to the young boy's story. The Senju took him away and claimed he needed to speak to his father about what had happened.

Kawarama hadn't been seen since. Neither had any of the other children, as the Uchiha had imposed a ban on the garden. By approval only were members allowed to draw near. When either clan was asked by those already in the garden what they hoped to achive by coming to the garden, the answers had always been elusive, but neither clan seemed to stir ill will with the residents. Both clans had been respectful to all others in the garden and stayed away from fighting with each other.

"Though there were a few close calls," Aoi admitted. His wife chuckled at the memory and Sakura felt pressed to ask for an elaboration, but neither would say anything more than, 'it was interesting.'

"The two that came up to my tree, are they the leaders of their respective units stationed here?" Sakura asked, lowering her rice bowl. She felt famished the moment food touched her lips.

"Something like that. Squad leaders they called themselves, but they don't look that impressive," Miko said. "You came out of the back of the tree, but did you see the shrine they built up the front?"

Sakura hadn't, but said she would look at it in the morning.

"Are they outside now?" Sakura asked, finishing her third bowl of rice.

Aoi nodded. The man beside him got up to check and nodded at what he saw. "Both of them sitting pretty as statues, miss. Don't think they're moving soon."

"No use wasting time then, send them in," Sakura said while reaching for a platter of meat to scoop onto her plate.

The nurses she had been training exchanged looks but nodded in determination before facing her again. "We wish to stay with you while they're in here." Rei and Rita were both bright, orphans and in moments like these Sakura was as proud as a mother hen. They were so strong and brave already, even after life took family, home, and friends from them at such a young age.

"I don't plan on saying anything you can't here. Stay if you like," Sakura said, moving a hunk of beef into her meet to chew.

She rested her chopsticks for a moment between her fingers and reached for the rice wine to wash it all down. When she lowered the red dish from her lips she saw over it's side two new figures enter the room. She swallowed, licked her lips, and set her cup aside but held onto her chopsticks.

When they started to bow she snapped her fingers and pointed at both of them. "No more of that. You'll face me and speak to me without lowering your heads. Now, sit."

There were settings at the table close enough that it was still polite, but far enough that it was also safe. Both men took their seats without further prompting. Sakura noticed that they still wore light armor and carried their weapons.

Before they could speak Sakura cut in, reaching for more meat and pretending she didn't care they were there. "I'll have you know that this garden is a peaceful zone where anyone may come and go. I treat the ill here and do not discriminate. This does not mean the garden is open for occupation." She lifted the meat to her lips but didn't bite. "What have you been doing here?"

Sakura took the meat with her teeth and moved it to the back of her mouth, sitting up straighter. When neither man moved to answer she raised a single brow and it was the Uchiha who was first to say anything.

"No such disrespect was intended, Sakura sama, we have not attempted to claim these lands as our own. We have instigated no conflict. Our presence here is intended to hour yourself and welcome your awakening." He bowed his head briefly and went on. "I am Uchiha Ken, second to Uchiha Tajima."

Sakura recognized the name from history. That was Madara's father's name. Uchiha Tajima was the father to both Izuna and Madara. If this guy was second to Uchiha Tajima, that meant he was the number two Uchiha in the whole clan. The fact that he had told her his name meant something. In an attempt to avoid conflict caused by the ever-changing alliances and resulting vendettas, shinobi were in the habit of never divulging their family names to strangers.

The other ninja from across the table bowed towards Sakura. "I am Senju Keijin, the second to Senju Butsuma. Thank you for your assistance in treating the young son Kawarama. We are most grateful to see him alive."

"I'd love to see him, myself. Why has he not visited. Is he not grateful?" Sakura asked, picking up another clump or rice to play with. "It sounds like several individuals have been prohibited from visiting the gardens."

"Only for the sake of convenience. Children would only be in the way in such a place," the Senju answered easily.

"No, the gardens are no place for children," Sakura droned, letting her lids fall part way. "That's why they're put on the battlefield, where they are so much more useful, ne?" Sakura bit into a new piece of meat and licked up the stray juices before setting her chopsticks down. "I am offended by few things, but there are things I can not stand the sight of. The barbaric practice of sending such incompetent individuals onto the battlefield is one of them. Children are children, not killers. Your world is barbaric and you do nothing to deviate it's present course to ruin."

Both clan members seem daunted by her strong tone and Sakura knew that it was only because they had been there and had seen what she could do that they didn't scoff at her. This world was a world of war and blood. Anyone with a blade was an enemy. Ninja trusted no one. She spoke like a person who had no idea what she was talking about.

"You do much to self mutilate your forces by sending children out before they have time to train and grow. Let them rest here, live here, grow here. When they are older, if they have it in their hearts they may rejoin you. Someone as small as Kawarama could have done you no good and you know it."

"Of-of course. But that is not a thing we could agree to so easily. Sending away our children would weaken ourselves," Keijin said, inclining his head in an effort to keep her respect. "As such, that is not a decision I could make for the Senju, but I will relay your will to Butsuma if you so wish."

"Sakura sama, what would you consider a child? Yes, the Senju boy was a child, but my own leader's sons are both accomplished ninja who aid in all fights. They are not considered children."

Sakura wanted to snap her chopsticks but she stilled her hands. It would do no good to loose her temper here. Izuna and Madara were shy of puberty but they weren't even considered kids anymore. How did they see such a truth?

"I will demand nothing from you. Originally it had been my aim to stay out of your pointless conflicts. Neither clan is currently employed by a country, you fight without aim or purpose. I do not understand this and wish to take no side in this, regardless of my… sensitive background."

How else could she call it? Yeah, she had clan techniques and bloodlines in this new body of hers. At the time both Senju and Uchiha had accused her of being the enemy. She had traits both clans had been trained to attack on sight, as well as traits they knew to trust as belonging to their own kind. It was an odd thing to be, caught between their two worlds.

At the mention, both men leaned forward.

"What is your affiliation?" The Uchiha asked. "I have never seen such a Sharingan before, nor seen it wielded so masterfully."

He spoke with a note of awe in respect, but Sakura couldn't help but hear the thoughts he refused to say out loud. She heard him demanding where she stole their blood right from. She heard anger and accusation. Was there a secret more coveted to the Uchiha than the Uchiha eyes? Likely no.

"In the Senju clan there are only a handful of members who are still able to preform Mokuton, and not to the scale or skill witnessed on the battlefield when you revived Butsuma's son. You could not preform Mokuton without Senju blood."

"What hubris," Sakura huffed. "Where do you think your clans came from? You think you came walking out of the earth with your abilities but do you even know your own history? What of the history before chakra was even cultivated or passed through the masses? Do not think to claim me for either clan. I belong to neither, I am my own."

"History? H-how old are you?"

Sakura glared at the Senju and stood. "That is a rude question to ask of a woman." When she rose the others at the table were quick to follow her example. Sakura waved them off. "Stay the night here, but in the morning I'll have you both return to your respective clans with a gift and a message. Your clan heads may be the only ones to approve my proposal for a child sanctuary, but regardless, I'll be raising the barriers tomorrow and keep them up."

"What if we were to return with our clan heads, or even the children you requested?" Ken asked. When he stood he stepped away from the Senju. Just because they were being civil for her didn't mean they liked each other or their years of aggression and bloodshed were lost.

" Of course those who need entrance will have it. But I will not leave myself defenseless for your whims. Go, sleep for the night or rest as you see fit. I must see to the others here."

Sakura had seen Tsunade dismiss enough diplomats and ninja alike to know how to brush them off without being too rude to be unforgivable. She had work she needed to do, starting with the people who had trusted her enough to come to her garden in the first place. Some of them needed weekly check ups and she had been sleeping for two months. Who was left, what was their condition?

Drawing the outer layer to her kimino around her Sakura stood and turned to leave the room a back way, not bothering to see her guests out. Rei and Rita, her nurses in training, followed behind her like ducklings. When Sakura glanced back at them she saw them grinned at each other.

"What?" she huffed, looking forward again.

"You were sort of a wargod back there. You were scarier than the madam at the brothel."

"Oh dear, that's not something good," Sakura bemoaned, remembering where the girls had been before sickness kicked them out onto the streets.

"No," Rei exclaimed, hopping in place. "You were really cool. You were like a real leader, like a big deal. You undoubtedly shut those two guys down. They didn't stand a chance. You were amazing Sakura san."

Their excitement made her smile. "I guess I would have made a pretty decent Hokage after all."

"A fire shadow?" Rita asked.

Sakura waved it off. "Never mind. Forget I said anything. Let's see to our people."

In the morning Sakura gifted either clan representative one of the two horns she had broken off her head the day before. Overnight they had taken on a shimmer she had seen in gems and geodes. The shimmer left the hornes looking more impressive than she suspected they really were. Still, she made sure they were well wrapped and handled with ceremony.

"These are my tokens of good will. I have no heart for violence and wish for peace. If not now, then peace for the next generation."

They left with their horn halves along with a good majority of the Senju and Uchiha. Of course a few stayed behind. Sakura knew they would. Only a fool would trust in her words. They didn't trust her, they just feared her.

But when she went to make her rounds later that day she noticed an Uchiha discarding all clan markings and getting into the dirt of the garden with one of the girls. When the Uchiha noticed her presence he dropped down fast into the bow she was tired of seeing. His shoulders even seemed to shake at the sight of her.

"Enough of that, I'm tired of the sight. Stand up, you have nothing to bow for." Sakura looked past him to the girl in the garden. Usagi, how are our tomato plants coming along?"

Usagi beamed, able to speak and breath after a surgery in which Sakura removed infected tonsils. "They're just little buds, Sakura san. They'll come in soon, though."

"I hope so. I enjoy their soup." Sakura stroked a plant stalk, empty of red color. "Uchiha san, what is your name?"

He hesitated before speaking, but did not lift his eyes. "Tenji, my lady, but I am no longer a member of the Uchiha clan."

Sakura let her hand drop from the plant stalk. "Oh, what is the reason for this?"

When it looked like he would answer without raising his head Sakura grabbed his chin and, soft as she could, raised his head for him.

"I died."His face was classic Uchiha, pale skin, delicate features and oil black lashes fanned wide. "You were there in the void with me. I died along with the others but you ripped in and chased off the god of death. We were pulled back and I came back, even though I knew I had died."

She felt his face flush with heat where she held it so she let it go. His eyes went down to the ground and his face followed, but he sat up and didn't fall down again.

"You were there….in the darkness," Sakura breathed, remembering all the other bodies she saw tethered and floating.

She hadn't been thinking of them at the time, and never thought of them in hindsight. She had been too focused on saving the Senju had chased off the god of death to save one child, and never considered what would happen as a result of those actions. The idea of accidental resurrection never crossed her mind. Such a thing had never been recorded in history as happening for anyone anywhere.

Sakura crouched down in the dirt, not minding that it soiled the knees of her loose fit pants. She touched his face again and he flinched, then quivered when she didn't draw back her fingers. It was almost as if he were being burned by her, but she knew he wasn't in pain and she wasn't hurting him.

He inhaled, pupils blow wide. "I left them when I died to come here for you. I give you my life, may you find it worthy, Yama no kami."

_God of the Mountain_

In her head the rabbit goddess was laughing too loud to ignore.

Fear and Blood


	8. Chapter 8

**Under the Rabbit Moon VIII**

* * *

_Sakura crouched down in the dirt, not minding that it soiled the knees of her loose fit pants. She touched his face again and he flinched, then quivered when she didn't draw back her fingers. It was almost as if he were being burned by her, but she knew he wasn't in pain and she wasn't hurting him._

_He inhaled, pupils blow wide. "I left them when I died to come here for you. I give you my life, may you find it worthy, Yama no kami."_

_God of the Mountain_

_In her head the rabbit goddess was laughing too loud to ignore._

_Fear and Blood_

* * *

Sakura braided her long hair, tied it off, and cut it short with the edge of a blade till it was free enough to dance over her shoulders again. Some ends were choppy but she didn't feel like asking for help trimming them. She tied her hair up in a messy tail that looked horrible and was likely to fall out on its own, put on an old yukata that was fraying at the edges, then went to catch fish with a basket.

She had no intention of being efficient, but caught her fish at a leisurely pace and kept them trapped in her submerged basket until she was ready to take them back. She remembered being famished, but now that she was catching her food, the idea of a meal was as appealing as throat surgery.

Hadn't it been hours since she last ate?

She hadn't taken breakfast, just tea. It was past noon, as the sun was swollen and slowly sinking in the sky. Maybe that was a side effect of having a god reside within her.

"Suiton: Mizurappa!"  _Water Release: Wild Water Wave_

Sakura turned, recognizing the voice before a thick wave took her over and knocked her off her feet. Under the pressure of the new flow, Sakura found purchase with her feet burying deep in the mud and bracing. She lifted her hands to shield her face, but made no move to retaliate. It hadn't been enough to hurt her, only knock her off her feet and surprise her.

The heavy onslaught of water lessened into a trickle. Sakura looked up, feeling droplets fall down like a mist over her head as she straightened.

Itame was grinning. "I told you she wouldn't hear me coming!"

Behind his brother Kawarama smiled, grin shy. "Di-did he hurt you?" he called out to Sakura, sounding nervous.

Sakura grinned, reaching up and feeling her hair half pulled from it's loose ponytail. She likely looked doltish, being caught off guard like that. "Only my pride."

"It wasn't a big one, I told you already, Kawarama!" Itame sighed. "It's not even as big as aneki's."

"That's just because of your chakra output," Sakura chuckled, wading through the waters that lapped at her thighs to reach the bank they were on. When she stopped the waters crested under her knees. "Your reserves will grow as you get older, so it only makes sense that this is what you can do now."

"I wasn't trying to hurt you, I-if I was I think I would be a little more scary. Ow!" Itame frowned down at his brother when Kawarama punched his older brother in the arm. "What?"

"Don't hurt her, you promised."

"I-I wasn't going to! I just said if I had been serious, and I never would be, that things would be different. Don't look at me like that. You're so moody these days. Do you need another workout?"

Kawarama looked up at his brother with half lidded eyes and turned his face away slowly until he was turned towards Sakura. He smiled and stepped off the bank into the river, sinking up to his waist before taking a step, and then a lap towards her.

He was so short that he had to bob along to get to her, but when he was close enough Sakura reached for him and lifted him up out of the waters. He wrapped his arms and legs around her easily, burying his head in the crook of her neck and resting there like a tired bird.

"Hello there," Sakura laughed.

She smiled down at his relaxed face while bouncing a bit in a natural rock she remembered seeing mothers do for their babies. She didn't know why she started to bounce, since Kawaarama was already six, maybe seven years old, and not a baby. Also, she had never been the mothering type, not really. Still, his body was small and warm in her arms. She couldn't admit to disliking how it felt to embrace him.

Itame sighed from the bank, crossing his arms over his chest. "That's the calmest I've seen him in a while. I guess he really did miss you. Um-not that I didn't believe him when he said so. But, um, sorry miss kami-sama."

Sakura's smile fell off her face. "What? Me?"

Itame looked down at his toes, hands behind his back.

"My name's Sakura. You don't have to call me anything else. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable around me, and I'm not really a god the way you all seem to believe. I-" Her words felt dry in her mouth. Hadn't she been the person to call herself a god?

Sakura moved her arm out from underneath Kawarama and held out her arm. The eye in the palm of her hand fluttered, but stayed closed. It was easy for her to recognize it there, but wondered if others could see it as well. She made her hand a fist and brought her other hand to the bare of her forearm and made her chakra a thin knife that cut her skin.

Sakura felt Kawarama panic in her arm, hold her tighter and squirm.

"Shhhhh," Sakura cooed in his ear, letting her chakra fade away.

"What are you doing?" Itame asked, eyes wide.

"I'm bleeding, aren't I?"

"Why?" he cried, looking to his brother in her arms and then back down at her arm.

"Because I can, because that's what I do. I can mend a body, I can heal bones, I can challenge creatures much older than I for souls and control. But under it all I still bleed. I'll call myself a god to make men fear, but I still bleed because I'm human. I feel, I fear, and I have an eventual end just like anyone else."

' _That's what you think.'_

The words in her head were disturbing but she didn't want to pay them any mind.

She turned her arm over and focused new, green healing chakra over the area with her opposite hand. "But I'm also a medic, I can use my chakra to heal. A cut like this is nothing to worry about."

Itame leaned a bit further out over the water to see her arm. It was as she said, clean and clear with only a small pink seam leftover from where fresh new cells had taken over. Brand new cells, dreamed up out of nothing-not the cells she had been born with.

"I want to be able to do that," Itame said in soft wonder.

"Heal? It's not something anyone with chakra could do." She remembered his interest in the medical arts. "It requires a lot of hard work and excellent chakra control. If you've got only one of those you won't get far."

"How do I know if I have excellent chakra control?" Itame asked.

Sakura hummed, reaching up to scratch Kawarama's back. He seemed to sigh and settle against her. "Come to me."

He looked at her funny but then reached down to kick his sandals off, intending to wade into the water after her.

"Not like that. I want you to walk across the water to me."

"Water walking?" He stood up straighter. "I've not done that before. I can't even tree walk yet."

"Do you know what you need to succeed at these things?" Sakura took a step back, and then another. The water was around her, she hadn't used her chakra to stand atop it.

"You need to control your chakra perfectly."

Sakura nodded, her voice a hum in her throat before she opened her mouth to speak, eyes glassy. "Yes, but control is such an odd word. People talk about control like it's something you have to fight for. But you control your hands, did you need to fight to move those?"

Itame looked down at the waters. "Still, water walking is hard. Aneki can only do it sometimes, and Hashirama-nii is just as unsteady. I couldn't do it so soon."

"It is harder when you are younger because your chakra coils are growing along with your body. What worked last year is too much this year, what didn't work last year is exactly what you need this time. But one thing is always true: no practice is ever wasted. Try."

He did.

Itame failed miserably, but got back up and tried again, and again, and again. After a while he yelled out to her to wait because he wanted to try on the trees first, and then ran over to the nearest oak to try and scale. He got a third of the way up before the bark cracked and threw him back.

When he fell it was into the soft greenery of a newly grown bush. He sat up and looked around at the mess of the bush he had broken and then his eyes found her. Sakura lowered her hand and sighed.

"The water walking offers less chance of injury."

"You did that." He stood up and brushed leaves off his pants. "Thank you."

Sakura smiled, stepping up out of the waters onto the bank. Her tattered yukata clung to her legs and stuck fast while she walked, still dripping. "You're an eager pupil. I'm sorry if I asked too much of you. Are you hungry?"

In her arms Kaarama squirmed at the mention of food. She heard his stomach growl a moment later. Itame grinned at the sound and Kawarama squeaked out in embarrassment, turning his face away.

"I think food would be a great idea."

Sakura looked back for her basket and saw it scattered in pieces, her fish all freed and floating away. "Let's see what they have available back in the garden, then."

Still holding onto his younger brother, Sakura offered her hand to the older Senju boy. Itame took it after a moment of hesitation, bowing his head.

The trip wasn't long, but before they could reach the edge of the back hedges Sakura heard a commotion and then felt the reason for it soon after. There were forces at the edge of her garden, strong forces. Her illusions were being dismantled left and right, layer by layer. She had set them up to be almost indestructible, but someone was pulling them apart.

No, not someone. There were more than two working to tear down the genjutsu.

"Quickly," Sakura picked up Itame and carried him under her arm as she flash stepped inside her garden. She reconized Usagi and Rei, called for them to take the boys into her home and keep them safe.

"What's happening?" Itame asked as Rei reached for him.

When Usagi moved to take Kawarama the young Senju screamed and grabbed Sakura tighter around and Usagi looked frightened. Sakura had to reassure the civilian girl she had done nothing wrong.

"Kawarama, look at me." Sakura pulled him away so that he could see her face, but his arms were still tense and his legs iron like around her body. "I need you to let me go otherwise you could be hurt. I am not leaving, and Itame will be with you."

"I don't wanna," Kawarama cried, eyes wide and wet with rolling tears.

His nose was red and puffy too. He looked truly distraught and Sakura remembered the last time she held him was when he died on the battlefield two months ago.

Her heart felt tight from the memory.

"I am not going to let anything happen to you. But I need to protect us here. Let me go, Kawarama."

His arms were weak enough for her to pull off, but he protested and reached for her when Rei moved to take both boys, being the stronger of the two girls. Itame looked worried, more for his brother's near violent reaction to the detachment than anything else.

"I will not be long. Be good for me."

Sakura pulled the band out to let her hair hang free and raced off towards the edges where Aoi and the few other able bodied men were waiting. He seemed relieved to see her and nodded. Several men down Sakura recognized the Uchiha she had met in the gardens, the one who had once been dead.

"They know where we are, no point in an illusion now." Aoi's voice was tight. He wasn't a fighter, just the scout.

Sakura ruffled her hair, suddenly very aware how grubby she must look. "Pull the men back. Let me greet these trespassers before you decide to do anything heroic."

Aoi nodded before following her suggestion. A minute later, a full sixty seconds later, the last jutsu fell apart and the hedges quivered as bodies moved through them Sakura saw armor and tensed, the eyes on her palms opening. She felt them spinning with new chakra, hungry to act.

Sakura saw red armor and dark hair and instantly recognized the trademark features of the Uchiha clan. At the head of the piecing unit was a genjutsu specialist, but just behind him was the representative Sakura remembered sharing dinner with only a day earlier. She reached through her memories for a name; Ken. Behind him was a man with deep set features from age and war. He carried himself with pride and was a dressed more finely than the others. Sakura guessed he was Uchiha Tajima, Madara and Izuna's father. In addition there were seven, no nine other additional Uchiha that walked through the bushes out in the open.

Sakura saw the moment she was recognized by the bulk of the Uchiha. Most of them were looking to her, but others kept their eyes elsewhere in search of threats. Some that looked to her almost recoiled at the sight and her face flushed dangerously. She knew she looked a little less presentable than she would have liked, but they took her off guard. She hadn't been expecting visitors to crash through her gates so soon. Who were they to look at her with such judgmental eyes?

 _Bastards_.

She caught sight of two Uchiha in the back exchange a glance and even a small smirk.

 _Sexist bastards_.

"Sakura sama," Uchiha Ken called, moving forward and bowing low at the waist. The other Uchiha bowed a little lower except for Uchiha Tajima. He stayed upright until he was introduced. "Please allow me to thank you for your invitation and introduce you to our clan head, Uchiha Tajima." He gestured to the man behind him and Uchiha Tajima stepped forward, all the way to the front.

Sakura held her breath for a moment as he quickly gave her a one over that was meant to be discrete, before bowing at the waist. "I thank you for your most generous gift as well as your offer. I wish to speak with you concerning both."

"Uchiha san." Sakura inclined her head in a modest bow. "I am happy to welcome you. I had not expected company this early or I would have made your wait at the hedges less so."

Uchiha Tajima waved her words away. "It was no great obstacle, in comparison to our will, to honor you. The Uchiha are quite skilled when they have a goal in mind."

Sakura heard the words he didn't say. ' _Your genjutsu will not stop us. You are not as strong as you think you are, compared to all the Uchiha._ ' They were posturing themselves to be as intimidating as possible.

"It was not my intention to deter you in any way," Sakura lamely replied, feeling an odd sense of loss when talking to the father of two boys she had grown fond of. She didn't want to make him an enemy, but she was starting to believe that was not something she could avoid with their old fashioned, toxic mindset.

'Real gods aren't loved, they're feared. If you want his children, take them from him.'

Sakura hated to voice in her head, but didn't let it show on her face.

"Please, my men are ready for rest and I would like to progress to talks without delay. Where might we meet?" He spoke with authority, sounding like the sort of man who got his way all the time. He assumed she would sit down and meet with him right away. It made her flush and pull her posture up into perfect grace.

"Uchiha san, please understand that before I lead you any further into our humble garden, that this is a place of peace. I will not tolerate attacks on any of the injured, sick, or recovering you may encounter here. You may meet men you hold grudges against. Swear that this is a party seeking a diplomatic end, and not a violent one."

Sakura folded her hands in front of her and held her head up, staring down her nose at the Uchiha party. She may be in little better than rags, but she carried herself like a queen. She wouldn't have them underestimate or disrespect her here.

"We will not be the first to instigate conflict here." At the end he huffed a breath almost as if what he saw were the most obvious thing in the world and it only pissed Sakura off more.

Sakura turned and nodded to Aoi before leading the Uchiha clan towards the dining hall that would be mostly empty and large enough to receive all ten Uchiha. The only issue would be the food. They weren't prepared for so many guests, but even if they had been, they weren't loaded when it came to resources.

'A god could change that.'

Sakura almost hesitated at the thought planted in her mind. To use the Creation of All Things Technique for something as simple as food seemed like a waste. It seemed like a misuse of a technique that was equally forbidden and powerful.

'Not to a god it's not!'

Sakura stepped up onto the porch outside the dinning hall and pushed back the doors, not minding to formally roll them back like a lady would to a lord. She wasn't going to be that sort of person for him. Damn him if he expected that much from her.

She took a seat at the head of the table and instead of sitting at the opposite end, Tajima took the seat at her immediate right, the place of honor. He didn't wait for anyone else in his party to sit, but sat down, crossed his arms, set his jaw, and waited. It gave her the perfect opportunity to study the man in black robes and dark gray armor. His hair was long in front of his face, but cut short in the back. Back in the day he might have been handsome, but his face was an eternal scowl now.

Feeling her eyes on him the Uchiha clan head looked up at her and Sakura stilled. Classic Uchiha with all the classic Uchiha features. Yup, back in the day he had been a total heart breaker no doubt.

Sakura adjusted herself on the cushion and watched as only half the Uchiha filtered in to take seats at the table. The other five stayed outside, positioned as guards.

Ami came in a moment later with a long tray for tea, along with another girl who brought out cups. Sakura looked up to recognize the other girl as another one salvaged from the brothels after a near deadly fever. Koi was less outgoing that Ami or Rei, and had no heart for medicine, but was more than willing to work in the shadows and kitchens doing what she could.

Koi poured the cups filled with tea using all her old life grace of being a female entertainer and it was soothing to watch the mature girl handle herself so much better after almost a year of rehabilitation on both her body and soul.

"Light appetizers will be out shortly, Sakura chan," Rei said before lowering her voice. "The children are with Miko and she's keeping an eye on them."

Sakura trusted Miko with the world. The boys would be fine.

"Thank you for your hospitality on such short notice," Ken interjected, speaking up from alongside Tajima in a respectful tone that was, no doubt, meant to ease tensions.

"You said you would return. The Uchiha have proven to be men of their word. You have come to talk?" Sakura took her tea cup to her lips and sipped. It was nearly too hot to drink, but she needed something for her hands to do.

"Indeed. The world has changed before our eyes yet again." Tajima turned towards her. "You call yourself the god of this mountain. Do you lay claim to these lands?"

"I have no heart for conquest and only take the land within the boundaries of my hedges. Where once my garden was nothing more than thicket and thorns, years and toil have cultivated it into something habitable."

"You have been here for years, but I have never heard of you. We have lived nomadic in these lands for many years. Why have you made yourself known only now?"

Sakura set her cup down and watched it. "I've had no need to make myself known, and no desire for notoriety. I have made efforts to keep my existence secret, and until recently that was most important for me. I will not be caught up in any petty war of pride you may have in mind."

He watched her for a beat, waiting for her to take another sip. When she did he mirrored her actions. Beside him Ken fidgeted in his seat.

"Were you not lonely in your secrecy?" Ken asked after a while of silence. He seemed nervous about being the one the voice such a question.

Before answering Sakura let herself chuckle. "What a silly question. You care if I had been lonely?"

"Years being removed from a society, slowly building up a community of invalids, indentured servants and runaways is truly a noble calling, but is it fulfilling? What of a family, what of a man?" Ken pressed on, leaning in closer, eyes glancing up at Tajima before returning to Sakura in fixation.

Sakura frowned. "You are too bold, Uchiha san."

"Apologizes, Sakura sama." Ken raised his hands and ducked his head a bit, glancing at Tajima again. "Too many of us know the loneliness from the loss of a loved one or family."

"And I am no stranger to these woes, but they do not make me long for another heartbreak so soon. I trust you to believe me when I say I protect what I love most covetously."

She thought back to her boys and then remembered dead Kawarama in her hands. She wouldn't go through that again. She wouldn't live in a world that couldn't hold on to her loved ones.

"Few know the curse of love as well as the Uchiha," Tajima stated, watching the green tea in his cup ripple from the vibrations caused by his fingers tapping the sides. His fingers stilled and the ripples faded from the surface of his tea. "But, I would suppose you are one of those few. In some small way you are Uchiha."

"You think I am related to you?" Sakura raised a single brow and lifted her cup to her lips to sip.

Takima's eyes tensed, like he wanted to look back at Ken, but he kept his gaze fixed on her. "I will not make the mistake of such arrogant pride to assume, but I have never encountered another individual with a sharingan such as yours. For fear of this lineage falling out of our reach we have been strict with the disposal of our dead and marriages outside of the clan. I am confident in our efforts. That eye did not come from one of our own."

"I would think not. I've not yet seen the dawn in this world when an Uchiha can spin his eyes as well as mine. But I appreciate the efforts you make towards humility, they are not wasted. As I have told Ken san before, I am neither Senju or Uchiha. I've no wish to undo all my history to you, but I will answer a question with a question: what came before Senju or Uchiha?"

"It has been many generations since then."

"From your perspective, I believe it would be."

Sakura looked down as she placed the points of her fingers at the base of her teacup. Now it was her turn to stare into the green colored water as eyes rested on her. She knew she was the subject of their scrutiny. She was playing a part for them. She was playing the role of god so that her home would stay safe. Anything less and they would be brave enough to take advantage.

Eventually she looked up and met the gaze of the Uchiha clan head.

"What answer could I give you to put you at peace, Uchiha san?"

He glanced off to his side back at the other Uchiha, particularly Ken who was grinning in a subtle Uchiha way. Such men didn't really grin, but his smile was cordial for his clan head.

"Tajima san would suffice," he grunted in correction. "There are too many Uchiha here."

Sakura inclined her head. "Tajima san."

He almost grinned and Sakura got a silly suspicion that there was something going on she didn't know about fully.

The doors to the side slid open and a handful of girls came in with trays of appetizers. Sakura took for herself a plate of sushi, knowing it had been expertly prepared from what had been caught in the river early that morning from people more skilled than she.

There was a moment of polite quiet as the Uchiha took the food and began to eat, following her lead. It was not poisoned, they decided.

"I shall believe for now that you are not a threat we must take precautions against, but what guarantee would we have that peace will never be broken between our people?" Tajima asked.

"I will give you none other than my word, should you never act immorally on this earth and invoke my wrath, I will not bother myself with you."

"And how would we avoid your wrath?" he asked, eyeing her critically.

Sakura glanced over his shoulder at Ken. "I am indifferent to most everything but this: the needless slaughter of children. You have children, Tajima san, or are they only warriors to you now?"

She saw him tense and swallow. "I had children. They are dead now. Madara and Izuna are warriors."

"Can they both read and write, have they hit puberty, have they lost out on a friendship for their family name? Madara is not yet eleven. How is he not a child?"

"There are no children in this world. There is only the dead and the warriors."

"A sin I must compensate for, it seems," Sakura sighed.

She closed her eyes and poured chakra into the optic nerves behind her third eye, waking it. She felt the seam split and the lids peel back from the left and right side. Her middle eye bled a perfect Uchiha shade of red before spinning idly. She could hear the Uchiha in the room tense and one even sounded like he was up from his seat. Tajima hissed for him to sit and there was more shuffling.

"I know you have already lost two sons, and you will lose one more before the fullness of man takes your oldest. The Senju will lose two precious sons yet. This is the future I have seen, this is the future I have perverted with my transgressions. I refused death his quarry. Will I not revoke his claim to Izuna as well?"

"Izuna will die?" his voice was tight but calm enough to hear clearly.

"He will be struck down." When she spoke her voice was lower, stronger, resounding with authority. She knew this, she knew the truth of what would have happened had she not made her presence known. Kind sweet Izuna would die and Madara would take his eyes. She needed him safe. She wanted Izuna safe. What was worth more to the Uchiha than fighters?

Sakura sat up and raised her palms face up in a show, the seams splitting to reveal her gleaming silver eyes. "Do you know the secret to those eyes of yours? How blindness can be cured? I will trade your son's childhoods for this treatment. Madara will survive to lead the clan without my aid, but Izuna will see no such future."

"How can we be sure she isn't lying?"

"You idiot, do you see what that is?"

"I've never seen one with so many tomes."

"Can she really see the future?"

Sakura lowered her hands and closed her third eye before looking up. "I can not see the future, no one can, but I have seen what happened in other versions of this world. In other timelines it is almost always the same. Madara lives, Izuna dies and many of you go blind. What do you believe, Tajima san?"

She saw him in duller color. The strain of keeping her third eye open sapped vibrancy from her own vision. It would have to be something she treated later.

"You ask me for my children, all I have left."

"I ask to save your children. You think that even in his survival Madara is unchanged by the death of his last, dearest brother? The Curse of Hatred will take him with more vengeance than any other Uchiha and it will lead to the death of your entire clan generations from now."

She had said something that set off some of the other Uchiha who were looking at her like she grew a second head. Then she heard it whispered. "How does she know about that?"

Tajima looked down into his tea, mostly untouched. "I will not give them up. The Senju-"

"Will be no stronger for the loss of two children."

"They are more than children to me," Tajima almost snapped. "They are my sons, my heirs, my legacy."

"Then show me how you care for what is most precious to you. I do not relish another entanglement with the god of death for your youngest son, Tajima san, but that is what I have to look forward to if your pride binds them to this pointless war without aim."

"Do you have children of your own?" he asks, suddenly reserved once more.

Sakura thought of the boys who visited her and of the ladies who teased her for her desires. 'Have one of your own.' She couldn't say she ever had children of her own.

"Not my own, no, Tajima san."

"Then I can't ask you to understand why I could not give you my most precious ones."

Sakura sighed, falling back in her seat a bit. "Then lend me them, until they are fifteen. At that age I will not have them anymore and they may return to your war, stronger for my tutelage and blessed with my favor. They may leave my garden whenever they so wish, but would remain here while the fighting rages on. If you love them, where is your love for their safety?"

"Behind my love for their honor."

Sakura wanted to snarl and demand the boys for herself, to threaten and show her power to take what she could not have, but bit her cheek to the idea. No. That would not do her well in the long run.

"Then learn to live with the curse of hatred, because I cannot save you from it," she sighed softly, eyes downcast. "My offer will stand for all times, but I fear I will not sway you. Be at peace, I will not try to persuade you further."

"Perhaps there would be something else you would want," Ken offered. When she looked up with narrowed eyes he went on to explain. "Something else in exchange for healing our eyes."

"I want nothing from you, and do not seek to take your children from you. Come as needed and I will heal your eyes because that is my duty as a healer. I will ask for nothing in return."

Sakura closed her eyes, blocking out the sight of them as something else flared at the edges of her senses. She hadn't put back up the genjutsu and there were people at the edge, walking through. She could feel their chakra.

Sakura stood, her sushi untouched and her tea half filled.

"There are more guests I must see to. Do as you will. I must be the good host."

Tajima frowned and the expression seemed so natural for his face. "What other guests?"

He stood as she passed and followed close behind, flanked by his Uchiha. After exiting the dining hall Sakura lengthened her walk to cover more ground and put more distance between her and the rest of the clan. She knew who was at her gates.

"Sakura!"

Hashirama waved with a bright smile beside his father while Tobirama sulked alongside his brother. Behind them a group of seven or eight other Senju filtered in just as the Uchiha caught up to her.

Inwardly, Sakura wanted to scream. Today was the wrong way to look like a hermit.

 


	9. Chapter 9

 

 

* * *

Appetizers were no longer enough, as the people in Sakura's garden hurried to roast duck and fry rice for a full meal that would satisfy two elite parties on such short notice.

Usagi had pulled Sakura aside and quickly pinned back her pink hair as best as possible on such short notice. The awful hack job was mostly hidden but there was nothing more that could be done to make her look like a god to two clan heads. Before Sakura could pull away she felt her yukata pulled off and was pushed into a cleaner one, softer and prettier in color. It didn't have homes and didn't stink so she didn't care what color it was, but thanked Usagi all the same and power walked back to the room where the two clans waited.

'We are so dead.'

Inner Sakura shook her head and sighed. 'Socially, we're already in the ground. I'm surprised no one has tried to kill you yet. Maybe they were put off with the sweat stains and the hack job.'

Sakura inwardly whined, hating the thought of how she must have looked to the Uchiha. At least with the Senju she might be able to preserve a little dignity.

_'They'll never love you, but they may still fear you.'_

Sakura almost tripped in her walk at the force of Kaguya's voice. It seemed so much stronger in her mind. A second later she forced herself to move and forget about the rabbit goddess. One problem at a time…

She stepped into the room and felt their gazes like a blanket settle over her. It was stifling. She swallowed and turned towards the head of the table, keeping her hands folded in front of her and her chin raised until she lowered herself into her seat at the head of the table. She noticed that the Uchiha had taken up one side of the table and the Senju the other, at her left and right hand were the two heads, sitting closest to her.

"I know it has been said, but I will repeat it once more…this is my garden, it is a neutral zone where fighting will not be tolerated. You may raise your blades once you leave this place but not before." Sakura raised her eyes to both clan heads, noting their grimaces. "Do I make myself clear?"

Tajima and Butsuma both nodded. Beside Butsuma, Sakura noted both Hashirama and Tobirama. The younger of the two brothers looked like he wanted to kill himself as he tried terribly hard not to meet her eyes or glare at the Uchiha across from him.

Sakura sighed, reaching for her tea again. "I am not angry with you, Tobirama kun. Don't look so worried."

The younger Senju glanced up quickly, eyes wide before he remembered who he was looking at and dropped his gaze to the table. She saw his hands ball into fists at his sides and feared she did nothing to appease his worries.

Butsuma coughed into his hand, earning her attention. "This is a marvelous structure. Was it one designed and grown by you?" he asked.

Sakura saw Hashirama light up and bounce a little in his seat. He didn't look away like his brother when her eyes fell on him. The smile was still in place and he seemed more happy to see her than he had before. Sakura remembered his request of her and sighed.

He thought she was teacher material.

"No, this hall was built by carpenters who were healed some years back and wished to show their thanks with labor. The trees for the materials were grown by me, but nothing else. I'm afraid my talent does not extend to design when it comes to that particular technique. I should practice some more."

"The lady is exceedingly humble," Butsuma murmurs, dipping his head to her. "We remember her elegance on the field."

"It was great!" Hashirama interrupts his father, nearly standing up in his seat. "I've never seen trees with such girth summoned so fast. It was as if you were pulling them like string from a spool they came so easily. You were amazing!"

"Surly, you've seen better." Sakura forces herself to chuckle as she raises her tea cup. "I can scarcely remember it."

The comment wasn't meant to, but it made some of the other Senju sit up straighter and a handful of Uchiha tense. She had made light of her god like powers in front of them, something she had no intention of doing. She felt her shoulders drop a little and the buoyancy of her heart sagged within her. This was not going well.

"You said you would teach me."

Sakura looked up suddenly. "I don't remember that."

The eldest Senju child rolled his eyes. "Well, you didn't exactly say that, but I asked and you said you would try your best."

"That was in regards to delivering your message. I did as you asked but never promised you the results you wanted." She glanced towards Butsuma to gauge his reaction. "And I scarcely doubt your father would be willing to part with you for anything."

Sakura sipped and then set her tea down. On the other side of the table the Uchiha were nervously shifting. Tajima in particular looked especially peeved, though he dare not shift and stir like the rest of his clansmen. He was as solid as stone.

"Senju san, I will ask you why you came here today."

Butsuma sat up straighter and readied his hands on his lap, like he was bracing for impact. "Humbly, I have come to beseech your favor, god of the mountain, and thank you for the life of my youngest son."

"I did no such service for your favor, and I wish not for your recognition. I was perfectly happy to be ignored and unknown to your people. What I did for your son was because it was my will and my heart's desire that he live. I…care deeply for the child."

"As he cares for you. Since his return to us he scarcely speaks of anything other than you and returning to your side once you awaken. I do not doubt he has already come to greet you."

Sakura swallowed eyes falling off to the side as her cheeks reddened. "Ah, he may have come back to visit, yes."

"He has lost his mother and the absence is stronger in him than he knows."

Across the table Tajima Uchiha leans forward, eyes narrowed. "Your family is not the only one to go motherless in this world, Senju. Do not forget your hands are not so blameless in this mess."

Butsuma looks to Tajim across the table without turning his face away from Sakura. Instead he slides his eyes in that direction and exhales. "Forgive me, my lady, I seek not to misguide you with tales of pitying." When his eyes slide back to Sakura the stiffness in his face relaxes. "Nevertheless, I thank you for his life."

"As I have said, it was my own will. But I appreciate the thanks."

"That is not the end of my reasons for seeking you out today. As you have already been made aware, my eldest son is blessed with a connection to this land and a hereditary trait that is lacking in mentorship. I humbly ask your favor in guiding him better on his path to mastery."

' _Oh, that was too easy_.'

Where one clan had refused her outright, the other was beseeching her to take its heir.

"Hashirama is your heir." Sakura glanced back at the two sons. "Do you still ask in spite of this?"

"Indeed."

Sakura sat up in her seat a little straighter, failing to miss how the Uchiha were now flustered and whispering to themselves about what they just heard. Behind them all, platters of roast duck and several side dishes were brought in. Sakura didn't take anything for herself, but had her tea refilled.

"Senju san, I would be remiss to not inform you of the offer I extended to the Uchiha clan just minutes ago." As she spoke Tajima stiffened. "I would like your children,  _any_  children, to remain here in my garden, safe and tutored until they are of age. Yes, until they are fifteen. At that age I will not have them anymore and they may return to your war, stronger for my tutelage and blessed with my favor. They may leave my garden whenever they so wish, but would remain here while the fighting rages on."

It was nearly word for word what she said to the Uchiha.

"You have offered this to the Uchiha clan as well, to their heirs?" Butsuma asked.

"I will offer it to any child. War is not where they are meant to be. You risk ending your clan prematurely if none of your youth reach adulthood. Both of you."

Butsuma bowed his head, smiling. "My sons would be honored with your favor."

Behind him Tobirama stiffened and went pale. As his father bowed he openly gaped and stared at his clan head. While Sakura was glad of the decision, she hated the idea of taking Tobirama without his consent.

"You need not decide for your children so soon. Ask them and let them decide for themselves after hearing from you. I know your eldest would be eager to learn, but do you not wish to known their minds first?"

"They will be safe and trained here in this garden, yes?" When Sakura nodded Butsuma grinned. "Then there is nothing to discuss. They don't need to think it over. What of the Uchiha children?" He turned at looked at Tajima with a sly sort of grin. "Have they accepted your generosity as well?"

It was almost as if he already knew what the Uchiha would say.

"If there are Uchiha and Senju in this garden they will not be the other's enemy," Sakura warned, tone stiff.

"Of course."

"Also, this is no prison. The boys would be allowed to com and go as they please. If you wish them to stay in your camp at night that would be an easy task. Likewise, I could always make lodgings for them easily enough."

"You are most generous." He kept smiling at her, grin easy, eyes crinkled in a way that almost reminded her of Kakashi.

Sakura felt unbalanced. This was supposed to be harder. Why was he giving up his children so easily? He didn't trust her, he wasn't that stupid.

'Look underneath the underneath.'

If the tables had been turned and she was to give over her heirs to a god she didn't trust, she'd send her sons off with knives and a warning to watch and see where the god sleeps, where the weak points in the wall were, who slept the deepest when on watch. She learned all that from Tsunade, a Senju by blood and power.

But that was fine. She had nothing to hide and the garden was prepped to react in its own way if fighting broke out. Kaguya's tree had roots deep, spreading everywhere. At the first sign of killing intent and action there would be a reaction.

"There is food here, please eat, you are my guests," Sakura said, coming out of her thoughts to gesture to the food.

She caught Usagi's eye and waved the younger girl down. "See if those two would be willing to have lunch with their father and I."

Usagi scampered off, keeping a nervous grin to herself while Sakura turned back to her serving of grilled trout. She didn't partake of the more lavish food, knowing there was not as much to go around. Aside from that, she really wasn't that hungry. Something about being the person of neutrality between two long rivaled clans took it out on her appetite.

"Sakura san," she looked up, hearing Hashirama address her. One of the Uchiha glared hard at the Senju boy, likely offended by the informal address. Still, Sakura raised her head and hummed, waiting for his next words.

"I'm really looking forward to training under you, but I-I also want to be helpful to you. I don't have to bury my brother because of you, and you were gracious to Tobi kun too. I can't thank you enough for that."

Butsuma frowned looking over the head of his eldest son to Tobirama who was still stiff in his seat. Across the table Tajima also sat up. There was a new level of keenness to his gaze.

"Trifle favors need no such gratitude. I don't do anything I don't want to do much these days. My will is my will, you need not thank me for acting as I chose to. Still, you are kind, Hashirama. I'll apologize now for not telling you who the person who grew these homes was when you asked."

Hashirama laughed, scratching his cheek. "Ah, I get it now. It was kind of weird of me to ask that, wasn't it. Did you feel embarassed?"

The glaring Uchiha from before tisked loudly, visibly offended by the Senju clan heir's lack of manners in address Sakura. Tajima looked down the row at this Uchiha and glared, forcing the younger man into a slight cower.

Sakura hummed fondly, thinking back to the day in the garden he came to visit with Madara. "I did not want to lie to you, but it was a little uncomfortable denying you outright instead of just deceiving you. I don't think I would make a very good ninja today."

"Why would you want to lower yourself?" Tajima interjected, raising his tea cup in an effort to appear casual.

Now it was Butsuma's turn to look annoyed, for whatever reason.

"There is no lowering," Sakura chuckled, glancing to the boys before looking to where Tajima sat. "The role of defender and protector of family and clan is not one that should be disparaged." She touched the cup but didn't lift it. "One day it will not be as it is. When those who can utilize their sacred chakra do so in grand efforts of peace than maybe the world will see something more than just the blood on their hands."

"Such words belong to an idealist," Tajima said.

Sakura chuckled, reaching to tap the seal on her forehead where he knew her third eye hid. "You should know better than others how much a realist I am, Uchiha san."

He opened his mouth, likely to correct him on her address of him but there was noise outside that made him stop. Sakura saw him pale as he recognized one half of the voices. Across the table Butsuma stood as he recognized the other half.

Sakura stood as well and walked calmly towards the door, grabbing it by the handle and sliding it all the way back to see what was going on outside.

Poor Usagi looked like a deer in the headlights as Kawarama crouched behind her legs, glaring and hissing at the Uchiha across the way. Itame was leaning forward into his shouts and yells as he postured in a face off with Madara Uchiha. Izuna was trying his best to hold back his brother, but Madara was ready to go. Both sets of boys stopped shouting when the screen door slid back and wilted a bit when they saw Sakura flanked by both clan heads.

Kawarama was the first to react, dashing away from Usagi and barreling straight for Sakura, jumping off the edge of the porch and launching himself at her. She caught him before he impacted but his arms immediately went for her neck, tugging his body to her so he could better wrap her up in a hug. His grip was like a vice. In the back Sakura heard Tobirama mutter to Hashirama.

"If only he moved like that during practice."

"Get off of her!" Izuna cried, letting go of his brother to let Madara stumble on his own. "You're fine, you don't need to drag her down for it."

Madara saw his father in the doorway and stilled. "Oto San."

Itame saw his own father and froze just as quickly, taking a half step back towards Usagi.

"Madara, what is the meaning of this? You were supposed to remain behind with your brother. You have disobeyed me." Tajima said.

Madara knelt, bowing his head. Izuna stayed where he stood but did hang his head, scooting backwards. "F-father, I apologize. It will not happen again. I only came to follow Izuna and stop him, as you willed it."

"You are the eldest, you should know better."

Madara swallowed, keeping his face down.

Behind her she could feel the room shifting. The Uchiha were restless and the Senju seemed to feed on it. Sakura felt the need to step in before the drama of father son relationships spills out in front of her eyes.

"We have plenty of food. Please invite them in, they must dine with us." Sakura spoke to Tajima before turning to look at Madara and Izuna. Izuna watched her but Madara's face was still turned downwards. "Madara, you are one of the most fierce protectors of family I have ever known. Will you sit at my table and eat with me?"

With the formal invitation Tajima stepped back and Madara raised his head. He nodded and followed her in. Behind him Izuna trailed close, followed by Usagi and Itame.

"Is he bothering you?" Butsuma asked, pointing to his youngest son who still clung to Sakura like a vice gripped sloth.

Sakura laughed, reaching up and scratching Kawarama's only exposed cheek on his face. He giggled and buried the rest of his face in her front. "No, no bother at all. I'll never admit to such a thing." He was alive in her arms after all.

She turned to head back in and saw Tajima watching her before pacing back to his seat where two Uchiha were moving to make room for Madara and Izuna. Butsuma didn't so much as acknowledge Itame, but the young son looked grateful for that. He trotted along behind Usagi until he was inside where he darted to squeeze between his brothers and steal food off their plates. Madara took the seat beside his father.

When Sakura looked behind her to see where Izuna had settled she saw him trailing in her shadow, heading towards the head of the table. He stayed close to her and didn't look back to his father even though Madara had already settled into his place. Tajima looked like he wanted to reach for his son, but held his hands back when he saw who he was next to.

"I can sit next to you, right?" Izuna asked, stepping closer to her and looking up at her through his lashes like a manipulating little shit. To ask her in front of his father meant he chose her authority to follow over his. This didn't bode well for peace talks, especially after the Uchiha had just refused her offer.

Sakura knelt down, holding Kawarama with only one hand as he clung on all on his own. "I will not deny you this, Izuna, but I will ask you to do two things first. Listening?"

He nodded and she went on.

She went on, lifting her fingers for each point. "Ask your father if he would prefer you to sit beside him and respect his decision, second, you need to apologize for running off."

Izuna huffed, eyes flashing with sparks of pride. "But I came to see you."

"I understand this. Izuna, he's still your father and he cares for you very much. His rules are not whims and are there to keep you safe. Please do these things."

She could see he was fighting it, the part of him that wanted to please and obey was at war with the part of him that was willful and full of headstrong vision. He didn't want to do what she asked of him, but he would because it was her that asked. She didn't know who else he would be so obedient for, but she knew he would with her.

Stiffly, he nodded and turned back around to face his father, walking over and bowing. "I humbly apologize for my actions today, oto san. I got Madara nii in trouble, too. Forgive this lowly one."

In a rare scene of humanity, Sakura saw some light come into Tajima's eyes as he watched his youngest bow. He blinked, and the emotion was masked and he was strong in the presence of his enemies once more.

"Raise your head. I know what you wish to ask. Sit beside your brother for this meal. When it is finished you may join her."

Izuna bit his lip, glancing back at Sakura and then at the boy who held tight to her. His eyes narrowed when locked on to Kawarama. Stiffly he swallowed and nodded, turning around to sit beside his brother and Ken. He kept his head down, but glanced up at their side of the table with puppy eyes that made her heart melt a little.

Sakura sat at her place and tapped Kawarama on the shoulder, humming in his ear that he needed to let her go so that she could eat. A few of the Senju were giving her odd looks, but not all were bad looks.

Kawarama relented a little, but only slid down her arm to sit on the floor beside her and keep a part of her wrapped up in his hold as he leaned against her side. It was better than him hanging off of her, but still there was a clinginess that was more common in children younger than he.

Butsuma, to his credit, didn't seem to care or see it as something to be embarassed about. He ate and spoke softly to his two eldest son, speaking over Itame and ignoring the less skilled child. He was different from the Uchiha head in how he showed love to his children. Not a good different and not a bad different…just different.

They ate in relative calm. The tension wasn't gone but it was getting easier to see the limits of it. Neither side would react or move without just cause and Sakura was determined not to allow such a situation to present itself.

A few more questions were asked and the conversation flowed smoothly even though it was heavily weighed on Sakura, since the two clan leaders didn't address or speak to each other unless it was to interject their own perspective on a presented topic.

When the food dishes Sakura felt a thrill of short lived panic, wondering what they would present for desert, but the helpers to the garden came out with sugared fruit and jelled candies. It wasn't much or anything super fancy, but it helped promote their humble stance in an ascetic sense.

"My favorite," Itame cried out in surprise, going for his jellied candies while both his brothers declined the candy in favor for the dressed fruit.

Madara took both and Sakura looked over to notice Izuna half risen from his seat. He was looking to his father with pleading eyes. Tajima waved Izuna off and the youngest Uchiha son bowed in thanks before scampering over to Sakura's other side.

"Sorry," he whispered as he settled down next to her. "I meant to come sooner. I got Madara nii in trouble."

"Something makes me think you do that somewhat often," Sakura said, eyeing him sideways and watching his face turn red. "Regardless of how often you get caught, that is."

From his seat Tajima began to cough from choking on his food. He reached for his cloth napkin and held it to his lips while eyeing his youngest son with a knowing gleam to his gaze. He recovered quickly and continued eating.

Izuna bowed his head and shuffled closer to her. His smaller leg brushed up against her thigh and he leaned his head in to try and whisper to her without the others overhearing. "Why did you sleep so long? I came to visit a lot but you were never awake."

There was no obvious shift, but Sakura knew the others in the room were leaning in to hear her answer.

"I'm sorry," she hummed, brushing his hair back. "I scared you didn't I? I had hoped to avoid that when I went to sleep. I never wanted you to know that side of me or see me like that. I was a little…ashamed of what I had to show."

Sakura paused, looking down and feeling the shiver from Kawarama's body. He was breathing a bit deeper too. She couldn't see his eyes from her angle, but Sakura feared she would see even more signs of an anxiety or panic attack. She reached down and pulled him to her side. He latched onto her automatically and shivered.

"But it's all over now. It's done. You're safe now." She whispered into his hair and rubbed circles into his back as he screwed his eyes shut and breathed deep.

"What do you meant you didn't want to show something like that?" Izuna asked, looking at the smallest Senju funny. "You were pretty cool, I thought. I've never seen someone use both Uchiha and Senju jutsu so well. I thought that was impossible."

She could feel the room leaning in. She had to be careful.

"It's because I am neither Uchiha nor Senju. Both clans are branches on a greater tree, like how the Hyuga and the Uchiha both have dōjutsu kekkei genkai that originated from the same common ancestor many years ago."

Izuna stiffened and half the room went very cold.

"I've never heard that," Madara said, looking up to his father.

The Senju leaned in, too many of them enjoying the discomfort. Sakura bristled at the mistake she had made. Talking to Izuna in front of both families about something so sensitive was probably a mistake on her part.

Tajima coughed and looked to Madara first. "Yes, it is a theory our elders have passed on, that many generations back our eyes evolved as the superior dōjutsu kekkei genkai from the lesser byakugan. Hyuga have excellent sight, but the mind of the Uchiha is unparalleled."

" _Jutsu thieves_ ," one of the Senju muttered under his breath.

"You want to say that louder," one of the Uchiha growled, leaning forward.

"No," Sakura interrupted. "I don't think he would. Need I remind both parties that this is a peaceful meeting where no hostilities will be tolerated. If this is too difficult you are welcome to vacate."

Butsuma turned and frowned at his Senju clansmen, shaking his head in a silent order to stop. Tajima's glare left less room for argument and was downright chilling. When he turned back to look at Sakura his expression was stern but remorseful.

"We apologize for our unsightly behavior," Tajima said, lowering his head. His eyes cut sideways to glare at the Senju table, expecting them to ask for forgiveness as well.

"Thank you for being so patient with us, Sakura san," Butsuma said, nodding his head as well. His apology was much less formal. "I think it should be close to time for us to head back. We have much to talk about and prepare for. My sons will also need to ready themselves to come tomorrow morning."

"So soon?" Tobirama asked.

"As soon as you would like, but don't feel the need to rush," Sakura said, holding up a hand. "I am not going anywhere."

"You are very kind, but we are not so trivial to prolong what is important, and I know Hashirama is looking forward to working with someone who can understand him so well." He turned to look at Kawarama. "Come along, son. We need to leave."

The youngest Senju shivered on Sakura's arm and shook his head. Sakura could still feel him trembling. Butsuma's easy going attitude slipped off like ice and he took a step towards his child and kneeled. "Kawarama." His voice was stern and caused the boy to finally look up. "We are leaving. Now."

He didn't want to, but Sakura felt Kawarama shiver as he detached his arms from her and started to stumble away, looking like someone knocked the air out of him. Sakura felt a thrill of fear as he began to move away, wondering if something more was wrong with him.

"Leave him," Izuna whined. "He'll be fine without you for one night. He spent so many with you already." Izuna looked back over his shoulder at his father. " _I_  have to leave and never come back, remember?"

"You are not barred from visiting, but your home is in the Uchiha clan." Tajima began to rise. "Come, boys, it is time we were leaving as well."

Izuna's look was cold enough to chill ice, but he complied without resisting.

Both clans made their exit with little fuss and before the hour was over the garden was almost back to its peaceful state. Their food stores were low but Sakura offered to go out and gather game and grow more fruit trees to harvest close by. There were a few of the residents who laughed about also being able to fish and collect food. The issue was the short notice, not in being able to actually find the food.

Sakura cleaned up once more and put on an sleeping yukata towards the end of the day, hoping to sleep early, but sleep was something that avoided her. She tossed and turned but had no luck. Her mind was too turned into the memories and thoughts of the day to settle. What would happen next, what did the clans think of her, what was wrong with the boys?

She had to get up and walk it off.

She took a fist sized orange and walked barefoot down to the river where she peeled and ate, watching the stars. The night was chilly but Sakura didn't feel the cold as badly as she once did. She was warm enough in her sleeping yukata, pale as it was under moonlight.

The way Kawarama reacted to her was different. She expected him to be a little clingy, but his desperation to stay with her was so close to fear she couldn't help but worry. He seemed afraid to be apart from her and she would swear that was a panic attack he had in the dinning room. Had coming back from the dead done that to him?

Sakura looked up when she felt the presence and turned, watching the tree line and waiting for the figure to come out from the shadows. He was trying to hide himself but she made it clear she already knew he was there.

"What are you doing up?" she asked as the Uchiha male stepped forward. He was the one that told her he wasn't an Uchiha anymore but she couldn't remember his name well. Ten, Tenma, Tennsin?

"I couldn't sleep. Yourself, my lady?" He bowed his head, stepping from the shadows to come up alongside her.

Sakura shrugged looking up at the moon. The stream was peaceful and clear, running like a silver thread through the earth. "I don't know. Just thinking."

"About what?"

She shrugged again. "Worries mostly."

"Then you and I are alike. I also think of my worries under moonlight."

"Oh?"

Sakura smiled and turned to look at him, too slow to stop the knife he ran deep into her throat. Her eyes went wide as she felt it rip into her. She was choking and drowning. Her own blood was burying her lungs. She gurgled and sagged to her knees, face frozen in shock.

He was staring down at her, eyes dead cold while the bags underneath stood out larger than ever. "Now I have one less worry to consume me."

Sakura fell backwards into the grass on the riverbanks, grabbing for her neck as he stalked off. Where he went she did not know.

 _Tenji_.

His name had been Tenji.

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Under the Rabbit Moon X**

* * *

 

_Sakura fell backwards into the grass on the riverbanks, grabbing for her neck as he stalked off. Where he went she did not know._

_Tenji. His name had been Tenji._

* * *

Sakura died.

She pulled the knife out and died, waiting for the end to pull her back to Naruto, Sasuke, Sai, and Kakashi. She though it was time for her to finally go home, but then the sun came up and she opened her eyes.

There was blood all around her neck, old and dried in still glistening gore. Her yukata was pale and horror streaked. Tentatively, she reached up to feel the wound on her neck and felt the line where the knife had come out of. It was closing, slowly. At this rate she would have a scar for the next few weeks.

"That should have ended me."

' _As if she would let you go so easily_ ,' Inner sighed.

In the background of her mind Sakura heard laughing. The moon goddess seemed to take great delight in the situation. Was it the fact that someone thought they could kill Sakura or make her bend to the laws of death after having defied them so much already?

"I need to get back to camp before someone notices."

Sakura could already guess how the encounter would play out. There would be screams and more horror in the eyes of people who once saw her as human. Who saw her so kindly now?

Tenji had claimed to be devoted, but really in his heart he had been sharpening a knife. Why? She had saved him from death. Why did he hate her so much that he had tried to kill her after so long undercover? Did the others feel the same? Did they all hate her? Were they all waiting with knives for her throat?

There was more laughing in the back of her head and Sakura suddenly felt ill for another reason. She hadn't noticed it, but there were new stores of chakra in her. It was…different feeling. Where had they come from? They hadn't come from her, so where….?

Sakura felt fear and took off for her garden as fast as she could, sensing the source before she could see any evidence for it. A coup in the night, the evidence for it pulsing in her pathways.

She slowed but didn't stop until she saw it. Three new trees grew around pale Uchiha bodies, slowly sucking the life from them and transferring it to Sakura, leaching the color from their persons with the intention of crafting them into white Zetsu.

"Sakura!" Usagi's hair was a mess as she cried out and rushed forward. The petite woman wobbled the last few steps and Sakura saw bruises around her wrists, but nothing worse.

Sakura grabbed the girl by the shoulders and held her steady. "What happened?" Sakura demanded.

"Th-they, there were four of them, but I-but…oh, Sakura, I don't know what they did, but they reached for some of us and said they were going to  _p-purge_  the world of you and then they started to attack, but then the trees. Was that you? Did you do this?"

Sakura glared at the new growth in her garden, hating how the laughing in her head never seemed to lessen. "That's one of the traps I set up, yes. If anyone showed aggression to the point of killing intent or attacked while in the garden these would be triggered. I hadn't known they went off until I woke up this morning. Was anyone hurt?"

Sakura looked down at the girl and noticed that Usagi's eyes were wide and staring at the blood and scar. Part of her neck was still open, flesh layers peeled like petals as the more vital layers healed. It wasn't bad, but it was disturbing to see.

"You-your neck…"

"I'm fine. One of them tried to kill me. I'm so sorry, honey. Come here."

Sakura took the girl's wrists and began to push her healing chakra into the wrists. She felt the new chakra from the absorbed Uchiha and winced, refusing to use it. She could heal just fine on her own. She didn't need new power. What she couldn't make on her own she could gather in her sleep. Who cared if she slept for days.

"People believe they are safe," a new voice piped up from over Sakura's shoulder. She looked to see Aoi slouching where he stood. "I do, at least."

"And you didn't, before?" Sakura asked, still erasing the bruises.

"Maybe with you here, but you can't be everywhere at once. With you gone last night I almost worried, but these babies grew up out of the ground like clockwork before half of us even knew we were under attack. I never knew you had these hiding in the garden."

"They're…a bit inhumane. I did not mean to act in such a way, but I was indisposed and had no other choice. Was anyone injured or disturbed because of this?" Sakura asked, finishing with the young girl and turning to face Aoi more fully.

Aoi grimaced at the wound on her neck she purposefully kept from closing all the way. "No one had anything more than a few bruises. It was only four of them."

"Why are there only three trees?"

"The fourth one ran off after you, he didn't attack. I don't know what happened to him."

Sakura felt the pain from his betrayal more than the knife in her throat. The song from the day she saved Kawarama from death looped in her brain. Fear and blood, she had been right. They would never love her like this.

"I'm so sorry," Sakura breathed, feeling shame heat her face. "I never meant for this to happen. I put you all in danger for my selfishness. I should have never been so bold or said the things I said."

"Hey, kid!"

Aoi grabbed her shoulder and shook her. She gulped, looking up through wet eyes. He was older and when he looked down at her like this sometimes she could confuse him for her dad, with different eyes, hair and a new face altogether. There was just something in the lines of him that reminded her of the father she left behind.

"There is no place in their entire world that is safe always and forever. We wake up each day knowing the reality we face. This is a bloody world and we know we're lucky for our days. We know this. We know. You said you would protect us and you did. You never went back on any of your promises even when we didn't believe in them. I've been a shinobi as long as I've been alive, I know tomorrow isn't promised."

"I compromised our safety. We were safer before I…before I was selfish."

"Do you regret bringing that kid back?"

Sweet, pure, innocent Kawarama? "Of course not."

"Don't apologize then." He squeezed her shoulder once more. "Speaking of which, that kid is due any minute. Want to clean up while we…get things settled. Some of the others here don't even know what happened last night."

"How many Uchiha and Senju are left?" Sakura asked, swallowing her worry and remembering who she was. She needed to be better and return to her senses. They needed a leader.

"All of the Senju fled, there are a couple Uchiha, just the two of them, a husband and wife actually, are they're under house arrest. They didn't put up a fight and are complying."

Sakura knew the couple he spoke of and nodded. "How do they seem?"

"Remorseful. Would you like to speak with them?"

Sakura nodded and let her lead them both down to the house the couple had been locked up in. It was simple, and around it there was a garden freshly planted. It smelled of soft soil and growth. Sakura followed Aoi inside and saw the couple, a younger pair, sitting with their hands clasped around each other's. Their eyes went wide at the sight of her.

"Please," the woman spoke first, bowing low. "Spare my husband and myself. I do not deserve your mercy twice over, but I beg it of you!"

"You have done nothing to warrant such fear," Sakura sighed, sitting herself down sloppily. "Sit down, Aoi. You're making me tired just looking at you. I'm tired." Sakura reached over and touched the woman. "Look up."

The Uchiha woman did.

"Can you help me? Why did you not want to kill me? I think I can understand the others wanting me dead. I'm a threat, they're scared or something. I don't expect love from strangers, and I know how cruel this world can be. But you both stayed your hands. Please help me understand."

The husband spoke first. "It is because we did not have the pride of Uchiha the others did. We wanted to live. They…they did not want to live. They felt they deserved death on the battlefield against the Senju. They were angry their glory had been stripped and wished to gain it again. I do not think they believed they could win, but wished for the peaceful transition into death they were once denied."

"And you do not wish this?" Sakura guessed, watching the way the pair looked to each other. They loved each other.

"I have a greater reason than pride to stay alive," the husband admitted.

"As do I," the wife echoed.

Was that it? The laughing was gone from Sakura's head. Something somber settled in the room and Sakura felt thrown by the simple truth. Kaguya believed fear and blood were strongest of all, but that wasn't true if these two Uchiha were still sane because of love. Love was stronger at least this time.

"I believe you. If you had as much killing intent as the others you would not be here now. I can not speak to their intentions, since I never shared their background or world view, but I do not think you shared the same purpose as the attacking Uchiha. I will apologize for the extra security, but you are still free. There is nothing but peace in this garden."

"You are too kind," the husband sighed, closing his eyes and bowing along with his wife.

Sakura could feel Aoi's stare and sighed internally.

"If there is anything you need, please let me know. I have some young friends coming over to visit later and I can imagine they will be a handful for four different reasons." Sakura smiled to herself at the thought. Each boy would need something different from her.

"Children are a blessing," The Uchiha woman sighed almost blissfully.

Her smile was soft as she glanced to her husband, only for it to become a wince. He grabbed her hand again and squeezed it, running his finger over her knuckles. When he looked back at his wife it was with a look of unapologetic and fierce love. It made Sakura want to look away but a suspicion was blooming in her brain.

"Uchiha san," Sakura coughed scooting closer. "Have you considered having children yourself?"

Her blush was instant and the downward tilt of her eyes was telling enough. "A joy that would be, but I have been in one too many battles with one too many injuries that have made the process…impossible."

Sakura frowned. "Aoi, please leave us."

"Sakura san?" His voice was hesitant.

She waved him off and shifted closer to the couple. When she spoke her voice left no room for argument. "I have private matters I wish to discuss. Dismiss the others as well and leave us."

He paused for a second longer, but bowed and moved to do as he was bid. The Uchiha couple in front of her sat tensed, suddenly aware of a change going on. The wife was named…Kimiko, and the husband, she wanted to guess it was something close to…Koichi? She wasn't the best with names.

Once they were alone Sakura relaxed again. "Kimiko, would you like to have children if you could? Is that a wish you have?"

The suggestion seemed to stun the woman. "Of course I would. What sort of question would that be?" Her husband squeezed her hand again and tugged it back onto his lap. She blushed and dipped her head. "But I've known for a while not it would not be for me. Even before we were married I knew."

"You know what I do in this garden. Why did you not ask for my assistance in this?" Sakura asked.

"It is not an ailment that can be fixed."

"How do you know?"

"The-the village healers said the damage was too great. I was lucky I made it out with my life."

"Let me be the judge of that. If you wish for children I will do what I can to help you. If you have no hope of such a future you have nothing to loose." Sakura stood and gestured to the cushions around the table. "Could I see the injury site?"

Kimiko seemed eager, licking her lips and scrambling to do as she was asked. Her husband followed behind her a bit slower. Sakura made sure Kimiko was comfortable before pushing the yukata open and rolling up the under layer. She saw the scaring at once, prevalent across all visible flesh, but most jagged just above the pelvic bone.

Sakura charged her hands with warm green chakra and began to inspect the site.

"When I was much younger," Sakura admitted, "I had been in a fight I nearly didn't survive. My enemy ran me through, clean through, with his blade and I held it there, unwilling to let him retreat or attack the other person there with me. I was a girl then, nothing more than a stupid girl, too reckless to know what she was doing. It was only much later, after the wound had healed did my master tell me I had severe scarring that would make having a child impossible."

"But…" Koichi looked from his wife to where Sakura's neck was still covered in dried blood. "You're not human."

Sakura glanced at him from the corner of her eyes and grinned. "Back then I had been nothing more than a girl. Mortal and scared."

"What did you do?" Kimiko asked, sounding drowsy under the warm touch.

"My master preformed a surgery where she reattached the fallopian tubes which had been severed and scarred. It's the same thing that's preventing you from having children. I can see the damage and feel the ends of it. It's not the worst I've seen, but it looks like you were braver than the girl I was. What I would do with you is preform a surgery. I'd have to do this during a different day after you fast for twenty four hours. I'd make an incision, remove the scarred areas and then stimulate the tubes to mend themselves with new cells. They would heal and then after that it would be up to you two if you wanted children…provided there is nothing else wrong. Ah, but if there is I can likely help. I've done this sort of stuff before."

Sakura pulled her hands away and blinked, looking at the two Uchiha in the room for the first time since scanning Kimiko. They were both crying.

"I…I will leave you two to talk it over. Excuse me."

Sakura left them to their own private conversations and slipped out. She still needed to shower and change. It was still only morning, but Sakura didn't know when the Senju would be showing up. She decided to stop by the Uchiha trees before then and make sure they were as harmless as she thought they were.

She approached the first one and touched the outside. Inside, the Uchiha was still alive and slowly dying, his life force being sucked out along with his chakra. He was dreaming and Sakura had a horrible taste in her mouth when she remembered their chrysalises, choking dreams out of Ino and Rock Lee and Tsunade. She remembered seeing them slowly dying.

"This isn't like that," the voice in her head spoke up. Kaguya was so close and full it was as if she were right behind Sakura and not a devoured spirit.

"What is this?" Sakura hissed, checking to see she was surly alone.

"I have no need to make an army when you are my army," the rabbit goddess cooed. Sakura felt a shiver.

"What is happening to them?"

"Fear and Blood."

It sounded more like a title than an explanation. Sakura felt a pull in her body, from the places where the new chakra hummed. It spiked and then leaked out like it was her body sucking it into her main stores. Sakura panicked, not knowing what was happening or how. She hadn't done anything.

"Watch," Kaguya cooed in fond amusement.

Sakura felt something happening she couldn't stop. She looked up at saw the trees shiver. They shook and their branches bloomed with white, then pink, and finally red blooms. The trees together sighed and then slimmed, their blooms dripping red as a slit from each let a husk body fall out. Each Uchiha was now dead and their life energy, their chakra, was a part of Sakura.

"What did you do?" Sakura asked out loud in hushed horror as she felt a bloom drip blood onto her face. She stepped under the branches and stared in fear at what she had done. No. What Kaguya had done. Sakura hadn't consented to any of this. Kaguya had done something Sakura couldn't stop.

"You said you'd do  _anything_  to bring him back, remember? Ever time you're that desperate I'm a little more alive, love. Shhhh, don't fret, my child. My dearest one, I love you more than any of my other sons. You are my pride. I will live to my fulness in you. You will be the horror this world deserves."

Sakura grew afraid that someone else could hear the voice in her head and whipped around widely, looking for someone. There was no one around.

"I ate you," Sakura hissed. "You don't get to control me like that."

"One day I won't need to. One day you'll be one mind with me, but until then…remember my will and remember what you gave up for that child."

Kaguya was a phantom laugh in Sakura's mind fading out. Wrecked with guilt and fear, Sakura ran for her home and locked the door behind her. She pulled a bar across her door and ran to the waters, splashing herself and starting to choke on her own breath.

What would she do next?

What had Sakura agreed to?

How stupid had she truly been?

' _Stop it!_ ' a new voice screamed, making Sakura freeze. The room went dark and Sakura turned, closing her eyes as she fell into her mind and saw her inner self standing there with her arms crossed. She looked pissed.

"She's planning on taking over my body," Sakura said to her inner.

'Maybe. I mean, that's what it looks like, but I think it's more than that. She's building herself up but she should have thought twice before messing with us. She thinks we'll be easy. I didn't catch it today, but I plan on holding her back next time she tries something.'

"I can see her motives now."

'Not all of them.'

Sakura frowned. "What do you mean?"

'There's stuff she hides. If she wanted to take you over she would have made more plays for it. I don't know if she really can unless there are other conditions met. She hides away and I can't find here when she's in the deep places. But…I know there is more to this than just her wanting to take over your body. She wants something else, too.'

"What horrors," Sakura admitted. "I don't know what I'll do now. I'm not safe to be around."

'Don't think like that, don't entertain fears. You are stronger than that. I was off guard today, but she won't get away with it tomorrow or ever again as long as I'm looking for it. I'm your second mind, after all.'

Sakura shook her head. "You were just supposed to be my extra memory recall. When did this happen?"

'Maybe when you swallowed a god. No that's not the problem. The Senju are coming and you're not going to look like a hermit this time. You're not going to let them think less of you for how you seem on the outside. Get back to your body and remind them what it's like the fear a woman.'

Sakura opened her eyes and saw the mess she had made of her room. She peeled off her bloody clothes and stepped towards the tub. Her hair less choppy, longer over her shoulders. The cut on her throat hissed and healed faster than the others and she scrubbed it clean. She scrubbed all of herself and then passed up all the kiminos and yukatas for black ninja pants and a robe meant to be worn with men's armor. Sakura pulled he hair back tight and bunned it high up on her head, decorated with a gold comb. She painted her eyes with war paint made delicate by a fine tipped brush. Her eyes were rimmed in smokey gray and slim lines of crimson to match her lips.

Usagi knocked on the door and Sakura answered it.

"Are they here?" Sakura asked before Usagi could say anything.

The petite blond stared for a moment longer than usual and then smiled. "Yeah, they're here."

* * *

Next Chapter Preview

* * *

_She saw the boys before she saw the rest of the Senju party. There was their clan head, a few others, and of course the Senju brothers. Kawarama ran up first, which was no surprise. Inches from her knees he jumped up and latched onto her with a cry of glee that made Sakura stagger back._

_"What is up with you, spider monkey?" Sakura laughed, hugging him back as the rest of his family came up. "You never used to be this clingy."_

_"He also never used to be this spoiled," Butsuma laughed, relaxing his stance as he entered his zone of proximity along with his three other children. "He's making up for lost time and all the days from his childhood where he missed out on such kind treatment."_

_"Senju san, thank you for coming," Sakura said, inclining her head in respect._

_"Oh please,_ Butsuma _would be fine."_

* * *

 

_**Please review!** _


	11. Chapter 11

**Under the Rabbit Moon XI**

* * *

She saw the boys before she saw the rest of the Senju party. There was their clan head, a few others, and of course the Senju brothers. Kawarama ran up first, which was no surprise. Inches from her knees he jumped up and latched onto her with a cry of glee that made Sakura stagger back.

"What is up with you, spider monkey?" Sakura laughed, hugging him back as the rest of his family came up. "You never used to be this clingy."

"He also never used to be this spoiled," Butsuma laughed, relaxing his stance as he entered his zone of proximity along with his three other children. "He's making up for lost time and all the days from his childhood where he missed out on such kind treatment."

"Senju san, thank you for coming," Sakura said, inclining her head in respect.

"Oh please,  _Butsuma_  would be fine."

Sakura didn't fail to notice how he left off the honorific and went one step further from what Tajima asked of her. He wanted to be on familiar terms with her and it made her a tiny bit uncomfortable. It was sort of similar to how she would get hit on by older guys in her own timeline while woking in the hospital. There had been, sadly, no small shortage of such experiences. However, she doubted the clan head of the entire Senju clan and the father of four was…hitting on her.

The laughter in her head wasn't from Kaguya, but her inner, and it was easier to block out.

"Please, come in. You left yesterday before I could even think to offer you a tour of my gardens. I think it best you see where your sons will be spending most of their time."

"They are most excited. Itame even told me last night that he wanted training in the medical arts. I don't doubt that is because of your influence," Butsuma said, easily walking alongside her as his children followed along.

"You don't seem upset by that?" Sakura asked. Normally she would have suspected such a career change would elicit some other source of outrage.

"Of course not. It's good to be well rounded, and this doesn't mean he has to give up any of his pride. He'll still be a fearsome son to encounter, just like his brothers," he laughed.

Sakura looked back over Butsuma's shoulder to see Itame watching Tobirama. With the focus of the conversation shifting to him there was an uneasiness that came into his shoulders and slowed his steps so that he fell a little further behind.

Her gaze shifted to the second eldest and Sakura saw lines of stress all throughout his frame. Itame was aware of what his brother was feeling but their father either wasn't or didn't care. It would be hard to tell which with Butsuma, but Sakura was willing to guess it was a combination of both obliviousness and not caring. He wasn't a stupid father, but he didn't have the most compassionate ear for his sons and that was to be expected during war times.

Hashirama at least seemed to sense some of the unease in his brother and walked close beside Tobiarama, providing a support and strength for the second eldest son to rely on. Itame fell a little further back.

"Come, let me show you more of my gardens," Sakura finally said, starting them on their tour.

"Most excellent," Butsuma answered, following her lead.

Sakura led them through the whole of her garden, showing them where they ate, slept, worked, famed, and relaxed. She took them to the edge of the garden and pointed out the river where the woman would take the laundry and then field beyond that where they might train and spar.

Butsuma was highly agreeable during the whole of the tour and pleasant enough. Every so often he would ask her opinion on something, what foods did she like, where did she get her clothes, did she grow any favorite crops, where did she like to go best in the garden, etc. It was polite enough, but Sakura couldn't shake the feeling that he was trying to get to know her more personally.

It was evening by the time he left and the boys were a bit more settled. Sakura made sure they shared a house together but all had their own rooms. Their house was set a little further away from the others, but close enough that Sakura could reach them from her own home if she needed to.

"Is this something you grew?" Hashirama asked, eyeing the handwork with a critical eye. "It's much more refined than the gazebo from last time."

"I told you I would be practicing. I've never felt the need to refine it as much, but I'm anxious to be helpful as a teacher, so I decided to practice."

"How long have you been able to grow the wood?" he asked, turning around with wide eyes.

"That…is a complicated question. I'm not sure how I could answer that without telling a longer story."

"About what?" Kawarama asked, holding on to her hand as he walked alongside, no longer the clingy monkey from before.

It was a story about life, death, godhood and a massacred people. It was a story of grief and transformation that painted her as a figure more human and less extraordinary than they believed her to be. Or maybe it didn't. Maybe it would be the story that taught them to fear her and see her as no longer human.

When enough time passed for her silence to be awkward Sakura sighed and shook her head, squeezing Kawarama's hand. "It's just a story from my past. I'm not sure you would be ready to hear it at this time."

"I want to hear it!" Kawarama cried, tugging at her fingers.

"Maybe not that story, not tonight. I'll have Usagi chan bring in some dinner for us and we can eat in your common room together. I'll tell you some different stories then."

"I wanna hear about you," Kawarama groused, letting her hand go to move into the house and start setting the table.

The rest of his brothers all came together to help while Sakura stepped out to bring back the food with Usagi. It was mostly fish with vegetables, something only Itame seemed disappointed about until Sakura uncovered the jelly candies he had liked so much last time.

Sakura herself ate scarcely, turned off by the taste of food unless she was terribly hungry, something that happened more and more rarely. She wasn't sure why it was like that, but she resolved to investigate at a later date, after more important things were finished.

"Story now?" the youngest Senju boy asked.

Sakura sipped her tea, relaxed at the opposite end of the table. "About what?"

"About you?"

"There are lots of those, most are pretty boring."

"Then a story about those twisted trees in the garden," Tobirama interjected, voice neutral and far too polished for someone who felt relaxed where they were. "Where did they come from?"

"Ah yeah, they weren't there yesterday, were they?" Hashirama mused. "I noticed that as well. They look…different. Were they a part of your wood growing jutsu?"

"Passively," Sakura admitted, eyeing her tea. "I should have known you would be too keene to miss such a thing. You are very perceptive, Tobi kun."

The second eldest Senju boy stiffened at the name and Sakura recognized his discomfort. He still didn't like her. "You are not answering the question."

"Ah, but that's the nature of a story teller. All answers come when the time is right for them. Hashirama, you're right, they are a part of my wood growing jutsu, but they were not a jutsu I triggered actively. In this garden I have a golden rule, correct?"

"No fighting," Itame answered easily.

Sakura nodded. "Yes. Last night there were some guests who broke that rule. I didn't want to mention it in front of anyone else for fear of starting a panic, but their actions triggered a trap jutsu. Spikes in killing intent with action triggered the growth of those trees. I was not here for it and didn't know this had happened until finding them this morning."

"Wait, there are people in those trees?" Hashirama asked, almost standing up.

" _Were_." Sakura waved for the eldest boy to sit back down. "I don't think it is a jutsu I would be able to teach to you, as I cannibalized it from a more complex jutsu myself that included a level of genjutsu. That one was called  _Shin: Jukai Kōtan._ "

"God: Nativity of a World of Trees," Hashirama muttered to himself. "A kami level jutsu."

"Yes but also no," Sakura echoed, thinking back to the army of white Zetsu ad the roots of a god tree where acid burned right through her teeth. What she had preformed in the garden-what  _Kaguya_  preformed in the garden-was something different. It was a trap and not quite as horrific. The Uchiha died instantly, not a one transforming into the white husk known as Zetsu.

"What do you mean?"

She looked up at Tobirama who was leaning forward, watching her closely. "It's as I said earlier, the jutus is altered to work passively. As of now it does not have a name, but the original is a bit more gruesome as it does not kill the individuals, but traps them in an illusion and devours them slowly…like a pitcher plant or flytrap plant."

"You talk like you've seen it from the receiving end," Tobirama said.

"What, you think all I have are friends in this world?" she joked, lifting her tea cup. "Believe me, there have been more people wanting to kill me than you know."

"You should understand that since you did try to kill her," Kawarama muttered, side eyeing his older brother.

Hashirama had been ready to sip his own tea but ended up choking on it along with Itame who still had jelly candies in his mouth. Tobirama looked to his younger brother with the most open look of shock and betrayal Sakura had ever seen and it was too much for her to hold in. She burst out laughing, tears growing in her eyes as she fell on the table. Hashirama joined her and even Itame began to chuckle.

Sakura left them not long after that and went to make her rounds with the sick in the garden. When she was done and it was dark she stole off to the fields to practice her katas and sparred with a clone.

Sleep came much later and lasted only a handful of hours.

Each boy was being trained differently and it was starting to make her worried. She had never been a teacher before, and when she thought back to how Kakashi sensei taught team 7, she found his example insufficient to draw from.

Kawarama and Itame were working on honing their chakra control with paired exercises. After that Usagi and some of the girls offered to help them with collecting herbs and making powders for medicines. There were books Sakura had written and conjured from Inner's thoughts for the pair to read and refer back to.

Hashirama was trying to grow his wood into small cages without touching the sides, all of which were wet with paint. At the end Sakura pulled the cages apart and inspected his wood to see if he had enough control to be as specific with his growth. The task was easier in smaller dosages, but Sakura knew that one day Hashirama would be the master of the Wood Release Secret Technique: Nativity of a World of Trees, a jutsu that grew forests out of nothing, so she was scrambling to make the tasks more challenging.

But the most challenging of all was the second eldest son. Sakura had no idea what to do with Tobirama. She knew he was a wizard when it came to jutsu, coming up with and developing many that she herself studied in the academy. But…she didn't know how to cater to that.

So, she improvised.

"A spar?" Tobirama asked, arms crossed, nose upturned.

"I'll go easy on you," Sakura teased, smiling.

"I don't want that." His arms dropped to his sides and he glanced sideways at his youngest brother before adding, "I'm not your equal. It would not be fair."

"What if I promised not to use any jutsu?"

She saw something new come into his eyes. "No chakra?"

She shrugged. "If that's what you want."

He reached behind him and drew a short sword. "Weapons are allowed?"

Sakura hadn't taken any weapons with her, and was without any throwing stars or kuni, but she did remember one thing she could use. Extending her arm she turned her hand over and shivered as a length of white bone grew out at her wrist, slender and then thicker for a grip.

"This is all I'll need," Sakura said, twirling the bone sword over her hand and catching it.

She hadn't received a lot of training with the sword in the past, but she was hoping that a lot of her training under Tsunade would apply. She was quick and on the battlefield she had been near impossible to hit. That should be enough for a ten year old kid.

"Very well," Tobirama said, nodding to the far end of the field.

Sakura did not fail to miss how the three other brothers had paused in their work to stand up and watch from where they were. Kawarama started to follow Sakura out but Itame held his brother back.

Sakura took her stance at the far end of the field and turned to watch Tobirama do the same. She watched him move, noting how he naturally kept himself low to the ground with hunched shoulders and a strained form. He was well trained and battle worn already. Even as a kid Sakura knew better than to overestimate the future second Hokage. He didn't survive to become so famous for no reason. There were a lot of reasons he was so well revered. For one-

"Go!" Tobirama shouted, taking off for her.

The little shit was fast.

Sakura thanked what was leftover from her reflexes that she was able to parry and avoid the next few swipes. Tobirama was wind in the glades, fierce and fast as one would expect from a sage. He didn't hold back and came at her with everything, putting her on the defense right away. She lost ground right away and struggled to keep what she could. There was no room for her to retaliate.

The sword in her hand was a weakness. Sakura drew it up to catch his own blade and shoved into the attack before following through with that momentum to throw her blade away. She saw it sail and heard it sink into the earth, point down, but didn't see it. Her eyes were trained on her opponent as she jumped to give them space enough that she could shift her stance into one more familiar.

"You're taking this seriously?" he taunted, shifting his stance as well.

"You're a bit more frightening than I want to admit," Sakura laughed nervously. A part of her was still amazing by the fact that she was actually fighting the man who's face she saw in stone every day of her academy life.

"I hope to continue the trend," he said before dashing again.

Sakura braced for it and was able to catch his wrist in her palm. His red eyes were wide at the contact before Sakura threw him to the side and advanced. Her fist was raised and he rolled out of the way to avoid the impact. Without chakra the indent was minor, but still not something anyone would want to take.

Now it was his turn to be on the defense. Sakura was no Rock Lee, but her taijutsu was not to be scoffed at. Maybe he was fast, her eyes could track him, and that meant he wasn't fast enough.

It was a good spar that lasted longer than she could tell. The sun had moved and the sky was different, by the time they separated and Sakura sagged to her knees, watching him do the same.

"How are you so scary?" Sakura laughed, rubbing her hands. They were wore without her gloves. She hadn't stretched nearly as well as she should have.

He was panting, but stood up and walked over to her. He fell into a cross legged seat alongside her, expression still stern. "That….is the most honest I've ever seen you."

"What?"

"You're very fake. Nothing about you seems like it's real. I don't trust you and I don't like you."

"Ouch," Sakura chuckled, hearing only what she already knew.

"But when we fought, I think I got a better sense of you as a person. You're not a god, don't kid yourself."

"Of course not," Sakura laughed. "I don't think I would have done as badly as I did if I truly was. Look, you even nicked me here. That's blood, real blood. Human blood."

"Hn." He started to stand. "I don't know who you really are, but I don't hate the one I just fought."

"Why? Cause you almost beat me?" Sakura flopped back into the grass, letting it tangle with her now loose hair. It was warm out, but the breeze was nice.

"Cause you were honest with me and didn't use any underhand tactics to win."

"You think I won?"

Tobirama twirled his own sword. "You want to get back up and finish it to find out?"

Sakura laughed, holding up her hands, palms out. "No, no, I'm good. You're crazy fast and I don't think I'm your match. If you had been as old as me you'd have kicked my ass."

"I'm pretty sure I did kick you ass, regardless of age," he joked with the straightest face ever.

It had been clear towards the end of the fight that she had been winning, but it wasn't obvious that she would be the victor at the point in which she called it quits. It looked like she was tired and if that was true, it meant her exhaustion would have made Tobirama the winner of their spar. As it ended, the spare was a draw.

Sakura pushed herself up and rested on her elbows. "You wanna go another round and prove it?"

"Maybe," he murmured. "But I think that kid will kill me if I try again."

Sakura thought he was talking about one of the older brothers, but when she pushed up enough to see past the grasses she was surprised to see two new faces coming in. The younger of the two looked murderous. The Senju sons were on the other side of the field, watching.

"Madara!" Hashirama cheered, jumping up and waving. "Look, we're training!"

The older of the two Uchiha brothers grinned and waved, side eying Izune who still looked fearsome as an Oni, with red eyes trained on Tobirama.

Sakura kicked and jumped to her feet without hands and then started to run. She was across the wide distance in less than a second and Madara didn't have time to react before she was there, rolling him into a hug meant for Izuna. He struggled and flailed but Sakura squealed in good nature, picking them both up and spinning them around in a hug before dropping them both. Madara landed on his hip with a loud complaint but Izuna staggered on his feet, still grabbing her.

"You guys came to visit!" Sakura cheered, face flushed red as she reached out to ruffle the youngest Uchiha's hair.

He flushed at the contact and dropped his face down to hide the color, but Sakura didn't miss how his eyes went back to harmless black.

"Don't tell on us, no one knows we snuck out," Izuna said.

"I'm pretty sure they all knew, they just didn't care to stop us since they knew where we were going," Madara groaned, picking himself up. "Why must you be so violent with your misguided affections, woman?"

Sakura laughed loudly, holding her sides. His expressions and tone were too perfect when paired with his young face and tiny stature. Did he know what he looked like.

"You'll be fun to listen to complain once you're married," Sakura snorted, wiping the tears away.

The pale look of horror on his face almost made Sakura loose it again.

Alongside her the rest of the Senju brood had walked over and Kawarama was tugging at her arm, burring his face in the space between her arm and hip. Sakura let him nestle there.

"Ah, I'm hungry, is it time for a community dinner in the bunk house?" Sakura chirped, grin wide eyes bright.

* * *

Somehow Sakura managed an efficient training schedule for the Senju boys as well as the Uchiha brothers who showed up almost as faithfully. They weren't officially a part of her garden, but it was clear their father was letting them go.

Butsuma Senju showed up every few days, almost once a week, to check in on his sons and see how things were going. Out of all his boys, Tobirama was the one who visited home the most to see his father and give the man updates, but all boys would visit home on occasion. Butsuma spent most of his visit in her garden talking to her, chatting her up and talking about the outside world like it was a place he'd like to show her.

Politely, she declined.

"You know," Miko mused one day. "I had thought it would be the other one that tried to woo you."

Sakura almost dropped the baby bottle she had been warming for the woman's newborn. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, all the girls are talking about it, and there's a bed going around about which one will talk to you about it first; the Senju or the Uchiha. I guess I'm going to loose my hair combs over this."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura moaned, passing off the bottle.

Miko hummed, taking the bottle for her son and rocking him first. "At the dinner it seemed like of the two that Tajima was more interested in getting to know you. Butsuma is a bit too casual for me."

"They're both so old," Sakura whispered, grimacing at the thought.

"That's good for young women. An older man means more experience. Hey, and then you really would be a mother, eh?"

The thought of dating someone her father's age was…not a thought she wanted to dwell in. It didn't matter if they had aged well, (and they had) she still felt so out of place and didn't want to further confuse herself with any sort of romantic connection to a  _dad_.

"Miko, I love you but this conversation is making me sick."

The older woman just laughed.

Sakura groaned and combed back her hair with her fingers, watching her reflection in the mirror. Her hair had grown again, and it was hard to keep up with the changes the busier she became.

More than once she had to split her attention with shadow clones just to get work done. Yet, at the end of the day when all were asleep, Sakura was more restless than ever. She slept maybe two, three hours tops at night and just lay listless for the rest of the sleeping hours.

She checked in on the kids during those still hours. The only one that gave her any worry was Kawarama. More than once she had to track him down only to find him in her own bed, curled up around her cold sheets. She kept an extra close eye on his behaviors, watching for any signs of distress or trauma.

The Uchiha that attacked her hadn't shown any signs, but then again, she didn't watch him that closely. Whatever had troubled the Uchiha was the same thing troubling her little Senju, but it wasn't troubling the males the same way. Coming back from the death was not as seamless a thing as she first assumed it to be. The fate that followed her Uchiha assassin was one she didn't want to know, but felt it would come to her sooner or later.

She needed to check the boundaries before night fell much darker around their garden.

"I'm going to make my rounds now," Sakura said, rising from her seat.

Something in her was unsettled and she needed to walk it off.


	12. Chapter 12

**Under the Rabbit Moon XII**

* * *

Takima Uchiha came to visit her on one of the days his sons were not there. Sakura was practicing her kenjutsu with Tobirama when she noticed the new presence. As much as she made it seem like the training was for the kid, it was also for her. It was an area she was weak in and felt the need to better herself in. It didn't hurt that when she wielded a blade she felt closer to Sasuke.

"Stop here for today," Sakura panted, feeling the heat of a nearly finished spring season.

Her hair was tied up high in a traditional samurai tale and held back by a trailing white ribbon. It was sweat soaked and she pulled it off before walking off the field towards the new chakra. She was sweating but not more than usual for a workout.

"Uchiha san?" she called out, knowing he wasn't trying to be stealthy. She paused, noticing for the first time that there were no other chakra signatures trailing in his wake.

"I thought I told you it would be perfectly alright to call me Tajima."

Sakura grinned, dropping her bone sword into the ground. "Of course, Takima san. Forgive me, I misspoke." She folded her hands in front of her and nodded in an bow between equals. She never dipped her head lower than his.

He almost grinned, coming out from the shade cast by forest trees. "Pay it no mind. I hope I am not interrupting your training."

"How much of that did you see?" Sakura asked, hoping it wasn't a lot. She had been sloppy.

His mouth didn't move, but there was a smile in his eyes. "Enough."

Sakura groaned. "That bad?"

"And here we were starting to see you as something more than human. Are you disappointed?"

"Are you?" Sakura leaned down on her sword, grin teasing.

"Not so much." He nodded to where Tobirama stood in the middle of the field, glaring. At the attention, he turned and stalked back off to his brothers. "Your student seems to be progressing smoothly."

"He only hates me when we're not sparring. Don't worry, the glare wasn't meant for you."

Tajima's smile stayed in his eyes. "I doubt that. Regardless, I came to ask you some questions concerning an event that happened not long after our initial meeting. Several members of my clan renounced the name and joined you here in this garden."

Sakura exhaled, starting to feel the chill of the breeze on her damp skin. "Yes," she answered.

"I have an idea of what happened to them, but wish to confirm it for myself. They are no longer a part of my clan and we were keeping tabs to see if their bloodline could be recovered. Forgive him, but I had Madara inquire."

"I know," Sakura answered smoothly. "He asked me directly and I showed him. This is why you are here, correct? You wish to verify his claims."

He nodded. "With my own eyes."

'They sleep beneath the roots of their trees,' Kaguya chuckled. Sakura had grown adapt at ignoring the voices in her head, but it was always unnerving to hear the voice of a god in her mind.

Sakura picked up her bone sword and shook the dirt off its tip. "Come," she said simply, turning to lead him back into the gardens.

He walked in step with her, deferring to her for direction. They crossed the field and the river, walking into the garden from the back most part. They passed a handful of wooden constructs, most of them older and from her own wood jutsu, but a few were recent additions from her eldest Senju student.

Sakura led him to the first of the three death trees and stopped. The flowers had long since fallen from the branches, but it one were to break a piece of bark free they would smell the history of blood in the wood. Sakura touched the trunk and sighed, before forcing her chakra into the tree and asking it to move its roots and give up the body it was breaking down. There was a moment of hesitation, before the tree recognized Kaguya in her chakra and relented, heaving its roots like snakes to push the pale body up out of the dirt.

She heard the Uchiha patriarch inhale sharply before bending down to inspect the body. He went to the eyes first, pulling away the lids with no hesitation.

"You didn't remove them," he murmured, surprised.

"Why would I?" Sakura reached up and tapped the seal on her forehead. "I have my own, remember. And forgive me if it sounds too crass, but their eyes were not something I would covet. At least two of the three were well on their way to going blind. The third was too young for me to detect the early stages."

Tajima grunted before standing and quickly going through a few hand signs. Sakura recognized them and stood back, but made no move to stop him. The dark red fire streamed from his lips and the body, already fairly shriveled, was burned to ashes in a matter of minutes.

'A strong fire!'

Sakura pulled up the other two bodies and Tajima repeated the process, somehow surprised when he saw no one had touched their eyes. Sakura assured him that even if she wasn't interested in their eyes, she would have made sure others didn't go digging their hands through the dirt for trophies of the dead.

"There are…two others who remain, correct?" he asked after watching the last body burn to ash.

Sakura hesitated before responding. "This is as you say, however they are still my treasured guests. Unlike these three, the couple made no aggression in the garden and are part of the community here."

He paused, looking up at her from where he stood, gauging her reaction for a long while before stepping over the burnt pile. "You are willing to keep them here yet? I would have suspected otherwise."

Sakura huffed a tired breath. "You may call me foolish if you like, but I want to believe the words of others for as long as I can. It may make me a fool, but I think life would become terrible once I stopped believing in others. A few setbacks isn't enough to shake this resolve."

"I almost want to say you are naive, but I dare not." He stopped beside her. "You've lost too much to be naive, I think."

"Also," Sakura easily added, dropping her hands to rest on her hips and lift her chin. "I can afford to be this trusting. There are not many who can move me to vengeance these days."

"Not even  _Death_?"

Sakura raised a single brow and almost shrugged. "He's not a fan of me, but he knows his place and I know mine. But no, I had the name of another in mind. You've asked a question, let me ask one of you. Have you heard of the Uchiha Tenji?"

Her voice was a knife on ice, gliding effortless into his heart to stop it for a moment before he remembered she was still flesh and blood and not a beacon of fiery wrath.

"Was his body one I burned?"

"No."

"He's not an Uchiha anymore."

"He's not come back to you?" Sakura asked, eyes narrowed and no longer friendly. There was something more to her voice and the way she spoke her words, like they were heavier in her mouth and worth more.

He knew he couldn't lie to her, even if that had been his intention originally. "No. He has not."

Sakura hummed, eyes sliding off him to look elsewhere. "You don't seem concerned with finding him and keeping his eyes safe. Aren't you worried someone might pluck them for themselves?"

"That is a matter of concern, however…other matters have also come up and I am seeing to as much as I can without compromising the strength of our clan. We are not as long lived as the Senju and must preserve what we can before we go out hunting down ghosts."

Sakura thought for a moment and then blinked with the weight of the thought new in her mind. "I never saw any of the revived Uchiha access their sharingan while they were here," she breathed. "Can they?"

_He was staring down at her, eyes dead cold while the bags underneath stood out larger than ever. "Now I have one less worry to consume me."_

Shouldn't his eyes have been bleeding red when he tried to kill her? Hadn't it been odd that he had attacked her in the night and the thing she best remembered was the bags under his eyes, not their color?

Tajima swallowed and she knew she had found a truth. "The ones who came back to us did not come back whole. There have been a total of seven revived Uchiha, plus the six who came to you. Of the seven who remained with the clan, three have already committed ritual suicide."

"Are your eyes truly your greatest value?" Sakura breathed, voice heavy for a whole new reason.

Her heart hurt and she wanted to not feel the guilt of her actions, but the fact stood that their suffering was because of her actions. She hadn't meant to, but she did bring them back only to have them find life a new kind of hell and she never knew. She had been dedicating so much of herself to caring for others but never noticed their suffering.

How terrible of her.

"Life if a frightening thing when you loose what you put so much value into." He swallowed and Sakura suspected he was not as unaffected as his cold appearance suggested.

"I am so sorry for your loss. I did not know."

He nodded. "Of those remaining, they are well versed in other areas and I suspect they will not follow the others into the darkness, however I am remaining vigilant. Thank you for watching my sons during this time. They have been sneaking out and I do not stop them. Our camp is not the most…healthy place for them to stay right now while we work through such matters."

"They are always welcome here and I adore their company."

He turned to face her and watched her for a moment before saying, "You truly mean that, don't you?"

"I do not make a habit out of polite lies, unlike what some would have you believe. No, I mean what I say. Why would you not believe such a thing?"

"They are not your children, and yet you treat them as children in a world so ready to make warriors out of them. I suppose it is not to much to believe in for a god."

"About that," Sakura took a step towards the side. "Please forget that. It was a moment of brash hubris."

"Some would remember it differently. Is it truly hubris if you make Death your slave and master over the laws of nature?"

He glanced off to the side and seemed to narrow his eyes. Sakura looked to where his gaze landed and saw little Kawarama being held at the hand by Itame. Kawarama was glaring at the Uchiha head.

"They adore you, all of them," he chuckled. Tajima seemed to think little of the child's glare, but Sakura couldn't shake her uneasiness when it came to the youngest Senju.

"Sakura san." She looked up when he called her name. "I am glad we were able to talk like this, but I did come for one other reason. If you would permit it, I would like to speak with the two remaining Uchiha and ascertain their mental state. They are no longer members of my clan, yet I can not let this go."

Sakura waved down one of the girls she was training and asked her to run ahead and ask the Uchiha couple if they would accept the guest. Sakura told Tajima that if they were willing to see him she would permit it, but if they did not feel comfortable she would respect their wishes and ask he do the same. But minutes later Rei came back and said the couple were looking forward to it.

"I'll let her lead you to their home. When you are finished please allow me to bid you farewell," Sakura said.

She watched the pair walk off and turned to where she knew the Senju boys were watching from the shadows. Kawarama made a dash for her as soon as Itame's hand slipped. Sakura caught him and pulled him into a hug before he could crash against her.

Itame came jogging up, looking annoyed. "Come on, Itame, we have to finish our work."

"Actually," Sakura said rubbing a circle into the boy's back. "Could I actually work a little one on one with Kawa-kun?"

Itame seemed to relax, seeing as how his younger brother wasn't yet seen as a pest to their benefactor. He let Sakura and his youngest brother go with a nod and returned to where Usagi was making medicines out of his picked herbs in the tent, a pretty color of pink to his cheeks. Sakura got the feeling that he enjoyed the idea of some alone time with the pretty blond nurse.

Sakura felt the youngest Senju hum happily into her shoulder.

"You know you're getting bigger and soon you'll be too big to hold," she teased.

He looked up and pouted. "I've seen you lift whole trees by their trunks, don't tease me like that."

Sakura couldn't not laugh with the way he looked at her. "Sorry. But truly, don't you think you're hanging to me a little much? I don't see anyone else so eager to monkey on my arm."

"That's because the others don't love you as much as me," he answered as honestly as he could. He pressed his head more into her shoulder, as if he was desperate to be as close to her as possible. "They don't know about you like I do. I saw you, ya know."

Sakura felt herself swallow. "What do you mean, honey? What did you see?"

"I saw the monsters eating you, when we were in the tree together. I kept crying for you and trying to get them to leave you alone, one day they were wolves, and then they were wild monkeys, peeling pieces of you apart and eating you. It never woke up you and you healed right away, but they kept-kept hurting you and I couldn't stop them for it."

He was shivering in her arms and pressing tighter against her. "Kawarama," Sakura breathed, horror growing as she recognized the picture he described.

"I heard you too. You were crying, you were so sad. You kept-you kept crying and crying and screaming like the women scream when they see their dead sons. You screamed like the women who wanted to die and you didn't do anything to throw off the wolves. You didn't do anything and I couldn't stop them for you."

"It was just a dream."

"No!"

He was shaking more than before and Sakura looked around nervously, not knowing who was close enough to overhear their conversation. She started to carry him back to the stream where she knew there would be a little cover in the shade and less traffic.

"I'm sorry," Sakura whispered, carrying him to the water's edge. She sat down with him on her lap, back to a tree. "I'm sorry, baby. You're right and I shouldn't have tried to make you believe otherwise."

"Sakura, what was that?" he asked, voice thin and tight, like it was getting ready to snap.

"That was….you were in my mind. When I sleep I sometimes am feasted on by those monsters. It's been like that after I use her-oh, this doesn't make anything more clear. It's…." Sakura bit her lip, struggling with an explanation.

"Does it have something to do with the white haired woman you turn into when you're upset. She was there and she did this," Kawarama said as he lifted a single finger to his lips and made the 'shhhh' sound. Sakura felt her heart stop.

"You saw her?"

He nodded. "Who is she?"

Sakura deflated. "She's the real goddess. I'm just a fake."

"No, she's inside of you and she's dead. You're the real one."

She eyed him wearily. "How do you know that."

"Because I  _saw_ it!" He sounded so sure of himself. "Who is she, really?"

Sakura could hear Naruto screaming for her, she could hear Sasuke too. Kakashi and Sai were there too, in her brain like ghosts suddenly made more real with the memory.

"I used to be a girl with nothing extraordinary to boast of. I was a ninja, like you and your brothers, and we were at war against a great evil that wanted to enslave the whole world. It was…it was a war we barely won by sealing that power away and killing the man who aimed to use that power for his own. It was a victory, but it was so empty. My teacher, team mates, friends…no, they were my family, my boys, all died. I was alive but I didn't feel alive."

He touched her face and she felt where he interrupted the streaks of tears on her cheeks. She forced herself to chuckle and it sounded wet in her throat. He reached out and kissed her cheek, where it was dry and she hugged him for it. Oddly enough, it was her who was shaking this time.

"I love you," he whispered into her ear, but it sounded more like, 'be strong, keep going.' Sakura wanted to laugh. He was the one giving strength to her.

"I was alone. I was so alone and I…I didn't want to be alone. I didn't want to be without my family. I was mad too, I was so mad. I went to where they sealed the goddess our enemy had been using to try and enslave the world. I went to kill her in her sleep, even though I knew I couldn't. I knew I wouldn't be able to kill her. My friends had tried and they failed, but they were so much stronger than me. I knew I couldn't kill her but I had to try. I had to try and…go to where they were."

Sakura felt her face heat with shame when the words were past her lips. Kawarama was so young, too young to be telling this story to. It was dark and he was young and it wasn't fair, but when she looked to him, his shaking was gone and he was still with understanding. He was only seven but he was listening to her and she felt it.

"What did you do?" he asked softly.

"I…I tried to kill her, but she was in a tree, and the tree split open and burned me. I didn't run, I kept trying to-to kill her. I was burning away and then she spoke to me and-" Sakura cut her words off before she could finish the thought. ' _And then I ate her.'_

"She's inside of you now."

Sakura nodded. "She's a part of me now, or I'm a part of her, I'm not sure. She sent me here, to this world, where I've been living alone for years. I started this garden years ago, and cultivated it with her power. I didn't know what else to do. I didn't want to rule the world, and the people I wanted to see and help the most were now in a place I could never reach. She won't let me, as long as she's a part of me, she won't let me go to them."

"I won't either," Kawarama hissed, tugging on the front of her shirt. "You're not allowed to go and leave me again. You're not allowed to let the nightmares eat you again. You're not allowed to suffer anymore because you came back for me when no one else could reach me. You can't go where I can't follow, that's why I came back."

"You came back because I couldn't loose someone important to me again," Sakura laughed, feeling the tears on her face. "It's not even my power. I'm just a girl."

"You're not allowed to die and leave me alone," he yelled, voice angry for the first time at her. Sakura swallowed, a bit stunned by the force of his convictions. "You're not allowed to die. I saw it, inside you, that you wanted a bad thing, and I was so scared, I was so scared you were going-you were going to go where I couldn't reach you when we were apart. I was so afraid that you would die without me there and I don't want to be alone again. I like your hugs the best, and all of my brothers are strong and don't need it, but I still need someone to hug me and say they love me. I love you Sakura, I don't want you to leave, please don't, please!"

His face was wet with tears, just like hers. His shaking and extreme clinginess from the past few weeks was starting to make sense. Sakura had been right to be worried. Something had been bothering him and it was her.  **She**  was the source of his trauma, his panic and fear. He was afraid she would die and leave him. It was her fault.

Sakura grabbed one of his hands and put it on her throat, where the scar had faded from the latest attack on her life. "Do you feel anything here?" she asked softly.

"No." He frowned and rubbed her neck a little bit. "Your skin?"

"It's not scarred, right? There's nothing wrong with it." She let him drop his hand and grinned. "An enemy ninja stabbed me clean through the neck a few nights back and thought he killed me, but I just pulled his knife out and healed right up. It would have killed anyone else but not me. I survived because that's who I am. I am not going to die. I can't anymore, but even if I could, I would do everything in my power to stay here in this world with you because I love you like you were my family, you hear?"

She leaned over and kissed the top of his head. He seemed to melt into her, tired and happy. "I don't remember my mom much, but I think you're like her," he whispered. "I'm going to get stronger so I can protect you this time."

Sakura felt her heart hurt a little, but smiled and drew him closer for another hug. "I love you too, hun."

After that evening, training with Kawarama went so much smoother. He didn't cling to her as much, but still loved hugs and not a day went by when he didn't demand one.

The only time he got overly territorial or clingy was when the Uchiha brothers showed up and Izuna tried to move close to Sakura. For whatever reason, more than his brothers and more than Madara even, Kawarama did not like Izuna and Sakura suspected the feeling was mutual.

Sakura tried her best to keep them separated when they were in the garden on the same day.

Days passed into weeks, weeks passed into months, and nearly a year passed in easy coexistence. Both Butsuma and Tajima came by occasionally to seek her consul on matters and enjoy her company over tea. With her there an uneasy peace had been established, but in reality it was more a cease fire than a peace since the Uzamaki and the Hagotomo clans were still clashing and that dragged Uchiha and Senju alike into frays Sakura could not reach or oversee. Still, it was impressive how both clan leaders respected her in a time when women had so little voice and she wondered if it had anything to do with what Miko had said.

Sakura became increasingly adapt at maneuvering around any conversation that could falsely lead them to hope for a relationship more than just friends. It was easier with Tajima who was more traditional, but with Butsuma it turned into a game of jokes with him. He'd come with flowers and say she was the most beautiful and say it would be wonderful if she were his flower or something like that and Sakura would treat it like a joke and laugh before asking what he really was there for. He hadn't given up yet, but Sakura was comfortable dancing to his tune and playing his game.

Then there was a day when Tajima came to visit, but he didn't come alone, and the person he led out in front of him was one Sakura had long forgotten about and thought to never see again. The man at the front stumbled when pushed and fell to his knees as Sakura stopped.

He looked up and Sakura recognized right away the features of Tenji; the Uchiha who almost assassinated her so long ago.

 


	13. Chapter 13

**Under the Rabbit Moon XIII**

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"This is not what I imagined my day would look like when I woke up this morning," Sakura breathed, glancing up at Tajima over the head of the kneeling Uchiha.

"Then you and I are one in the same. We were also very surprised with the day's developments." He nodded to the man on his knees in front of Sakura. "He came to us, asking for aid."

Sakura took the time to look over Tenji and saw that he was not as she remembered him. His face was darker, more leathered by the sun, his hair more wild and his manner of dress reminded her more of a ronin than a ninja. At his side was a pair of worn but well cared for katana. He had become a mercenary for hire.

"Why have you brought him here to me?" Sakura asked in her formal voice, knowing what the answer would likely be.

"We know of his transgressions against you and this place. We offer him to you for justice to take its course. The name of the Uchiha will not stand to be tarnished any longer."

Tenji flinched on his knees and nearly snarled back at Tajima, but bit his lip until it bled and kept his face from turning. Sakura saw the anger though, the anger that should have turned his black eyes red. He was as she suspected, unable to use the sharingan. No wonder he took up the sword.

Sakura took a step forward, close enough that she could reach out and maybe kick him in the face, but not touch him. It was close enough. She knelt down and rested her chin on the back of her hand, watching him. He did not meet her eyes.

"What do you want, Tenji?" she asked, voice soft. "They brought you here to die, but what do you want?"

He didn't answer her other than to growl, but she saw the thoughts swirling behind his eyes. He was still an Uchiha, no matter how he tried to run from it, and she had grown too keen to reading the eyes of Uchiha men. He wanted something, badly.

"Sakura san," Tajima began, voice almost beseeching in tone. It wasn't in his nature to understand or deal with mercy, and if the roles had been switched, Sakura knew that Tajima would have severed Tenji's head from neck the moment he stepped into the garden.

But Sakura was not Tajima.

"You want your pride," Sakura guessed. "I took that from you. You want to live and die the way your fathers died, but you can't, not like this. You're a mess and that's my fault." Sakura started to stand. "I suppose it's only natural I take responsibility for my mistakes."

The Uchiha behind Tajima were stirring, mostly restless. Tajima was watching her intently, likely suspecting what was to happen next. He was a traditional Uchiha full of honor and pride. She knew she couldn't just forgive Tenji because he never would.

"You give him to me, to keep and to kill as I see fit?" Sakura asked, chin raised, eyes steely.

"The Uchiha do."

Sakura turned and looked down at the Uchiha on his knees and saw his hands were tied behind his back. She reached down and cut them with the long white of a bone grown from her wrist. He fell forward and she circled him, bone still growing out of her hand.

"Today you are going to die, Tenji of the Uchiha, but there will be no such execution here." She pointed to the far field sometimes used for training. "You seem well suited to a blade, so you will die by it. Single combat, no chakra, no jutsu, just blades."

"Not a fair fight," Tenji hissed, rubbing his wrists. "I already stabbed you once, but there's not even a scar. How do you expect to call this anything other than an execution?"

Madara's father looked ready to burn the traitor himself, but Sakura merely hummed. "You are correct. You stabbed me through the neck without warning one night and I still stand here, willing to share with you a far more honorable death. But it seems you don't want to die, so I will show you one more mercy."

Sakura lifted her other hand and closed her eyes, concentrating more on the bone coming out of her hand, tired and gray in color, smelling of strong ash. It came out just as sharp, and around the hilt she made sure there was a patch of white where someone might grip it without suffering the effects. She let the bone drop sideways into her hand and swung it once. She ripped a handful of her yukata off and touched it to the sword. It crumbled to ash instantly.

"This is my ash killing bone. Even to my body, a touch would be deadly." She turned the sword over and offered it to him while pointing to the field with the other. "Strike me with your skill if you can."

Tenji took the sword from her, weighted it, then stalked off to the field, eyeing her oddly over his shoulder. Sakura readied her own sword and turned to the field to follow him out when she felt a hand on her elbow, catching her. She turned back, not surprised to see the Uchiha clan head holding onto her. No one else would have dared touch her.

"Sakura, please, this is not unnecessary. He's a criminal. We had thought to just deliver you his head." Sakura made a face and he almost chuckled. "I knew you would have hated that. That's why we did this. Please, don't give him the power to harm you. He's far more skilled than you know."

He had seen her sloppy sword work months ago, but Sakura had been training seriously every morning with or without Tobirama. But was that good enough to best a man who had devoted so much of his life to the blade?

"I won't die. I doubt I could. Worst that can happen is I loose my body and have to regenerate it from a few surviving cells," Sakura huffed. When he gave her a blank look she chuckled and shook her head. "I'll be fine. And even if you don't believe it, I own Tenji this chance for redemption. It's my fault he's like this."

"His actions are his own. What became of him is his fault. No one else can own his blame, not even you. He made his choices," he said.

Sakura nodded, patting the hand that still held her elbow. He released her like she was too hot to touch and his ears reddened along with the front of his face. Uchiha blushed so well.

"Then do me this favor and keep the kids from interfering. Your sons are here today. I've dispelled my clone jutsu so I would imagine they are on their way over here now, worried."

Before he could sigh and complain like she knew he wanted to, Sakura eased out of his personal bubble and followed Tenji down to the field, all too aware of the crowd growing. It would be a show to the Uchiha, which was fine. Of the two clans they were the ones less likely to interact with her, trusting her less than the Senju. On the flip side, they were far more honest with her than the Senju or Butsuma. She knew he sent spies into her garden and made his sons report to him whenever he visited and she allowed it because she had nothing to hide.

Sakura turned and face Tenji, loosening her arms a bit and preparing for what was to transpire. Before they even fell into their stances it was clear to Sakura which one of them knew the weight of a blade better. She had been practicing for more than a year with the sword, but he had lived it.

But that wouldn't be enough to guarantee victory. Even without her jutsu, Sakura was not someone her teachers would ever be ashamed of. She was still the medic nin who enemies couldn't touch. It didn't matter if they were puppets or Uchiha. She wouldn't make this easy for him.

She readied and he came at her, fast as a blur. She sidestepped and held up her blade to parry the strike, turning easily away from the attack. The next strike was harder to maneuver out of. His skill was tempered and increasingly stunning. He didn't come at her reckless but each attack was increasingly more determined and it became harder and hard to save herself, much less fight back. He wasn't going to let her leave the defensive form.

Sakura jumped back to create distance but he rushed to fill it. She put her efforts into her speed and tried to out maneuver his swings. He hadn't been able to hit her, which was a point of frustration for him, but she had no chance to make a strike for him.

Sakura felt the weight of her body and the heat of the sun on a new part of her face. They danced. Minutes and minutes. The sky above them shifted and Sakura refused to let him have a touch of her. She had taken a few opportunities to try and catch him with what she thought were openings, but rarely did he let her take the offensive. Those few, rare strikes, were lucky, at best.

'You're not a god yet,' Kaguya cackled in her brain as she made her body a breeze around his blade. Sakura ignored her.

On the edges of the field there were more bodies than before. Some were old, some were young, and most were people she knew. The boys were there and she hated to see what sort of face Tobirama must be making. He was the one she was training after all, but here she was getting her butt kicked.

'No, I'm doing well. He hasn't touched me. It's more of a standstill. Besides, he's supposed to be better at this than me,' Sakura thought to herself, trying to see something good.

'And you're supposed to be a god.'

Sakura felt the rush as something new came into her body and the history of a hundred years in the years before ninja and chakra made its way to her fingertips. Suddenly, her stance changed mid dodge and she moved with a new speed. Kaguya was rushing through Sakura and suddenly she was on the offensive. Her endurance finally paying off, Sakura moved with new precision, new power.

Tenji stumbled back, turned, and drew a second blade out from his belt to parry with along with the ash bone sword. With now two blades to fight against it was only because of whatever Kaguya was doing that Sakura was able to stay on top of the Uchiha.

Sakura felt a newness to her, like each cell in her body was spilling with memory of how her body _should_ move in this sort of situation. She felt the deepness of her knowledge and knew it wasn't coming from just her.

She swung wide and he fell for it, taking the strike she turned over. Unaware, she felt her body turn sideways and roll onto his arm, ghosting above his ash bone blade. There she flexed and heard a snap. His other hand came down as he screamed and hit her in the head.

Sakura hissed, scrambling away, holding the side of her face where blood was beginning to spill. At least his arm was broken.

He glared at her through the sweat of his bangs. He dropped his katana and switched his ash bone sword over to his unbroken arm and turned to face her on his less than dominate side.

"You can bleed, you can die," he roared.

"Come at me, worm," Sakura hissed, eyes wide. She pulled her red stained hand away and let the rest of her blood spill without issue.

He screamed and ran for her, a new speed to him that Sakura hadn't accounted for. She went to move, but stumbled with the cloud still in her head from the last attack. She dodged, but not by enough. With horror she felt the ash bone cut into the skin of her left wrist and start to spread.

Screaming, Sakura jumped back and held up her arm to see the wound that was turning gray and starting to crumble. Even Tenji paused to watch the horror of his handy work. The gray ash began to spread and Sakura cursed, knowing what she would have to do.

Someone on the sides screamed her name, but Sakura turned her bone sword around and cut fast, severing her wrist and hand from the rest of her body. The stump bled heavy and she stuffed it into the folds of her yukata, pulling it open and exposing the bindings she wore around her breasts. It was unseemly for a lady, especially in this time period, but she didn't care. She wasn't a lady. She was desperate.

Tenji smirked at her, seemingly delighted with his small victory.

'We shall make him regret that,' Kaguya cooed, not at all worried by the tone of her voice.

Sakura readied her blade and he did the same, across the way. They had come this far. It was time to end it. She would bleed out before long and need to rest, and he was also close to his limit.

He roared a war cry and she let loose her own as well. They ran across the grasses both blurs of color that clashed once and came apart, backs to each other. Sakura felt the impact but couldn't tell it if was her or Tenji that hit. The sun burned her face and she felt the weight of her sweat rolling down the front of her face.

She heard his body go down just as her energy evaporated. She felt light headed and woozy. Sakura staggered and caught herself with her bone sword, stabbing it into the ground to keep herself from falling. A moment later she turned on it and looked back to see Tenji's body in the grass, unmoving. She had cut through his torso and the grass around him was red from it.

She pushed off her sword and forced her legs to carry her to his side, knowing that this was the limit of her strength. The only reasons she had done as well as she had towards the end was because of Kaguya. Still, Sakura wanted to think she had held her own fairly well with only her sword to show for it.

His breathing was shallow as he bled out. Sakura ignored the stains and sat down in the grass beside him, letting her bone sword fall away.

"You were amazing," she sighed, eyes heavy. "How could anyone have ever killed you?"

There was a sound in the grass and he moved his face towards her. "Even the best of us can be distracted, remember?"

"You were a marvelous Uchiha," Sakura breathed, hearing the bodies rush onto the field towards them. "You will be remembered with pride."

There was a long moment where she thought maybe he had died, but then he breathed deep and whispered into the grass. "I pray my ancestors welcome me."

And then he was gone.

Sakura sat there bleeding out, suddenly wishful for the privacy she knew she wasn't receiving. There were eyes on her and people coming over but all she wanted was a moment alone. She felt things she couldn't put into words. She needed time to think on them.

The whole group of Uchiha were coming down to meet her, ahead of them was Madara and Izuna. Madara tried to hold his brother back as the adults pushed past. Left behind were the Senju brothers, who looked like they wanted to go out and join her, but held back. She was proud of them for that.

Sakura turned away from the group approaching and stood, picking up the ash bone sword as she did so. She pushed her chakra into it and it began to fall apart into ash. No one else would be able to use it now.

She heard them stop behind her around the body but kept her back to them. "Do as you will with him now, I am finished here," she said. The front of her shirt was still split open wide enough to show her bindings and while that wasn't an issue during her time period, she knew too well how traditional and old fashioned the world around her was. She didn't want anyone to see her in such a state, especially with one bloody stump of an arm.

Someone called her name, she thought it was Izuna, but she was already gone, disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

She made it back to her house and let herself into the bathroom where she started to strip and clean the wound, sealing it up with chakra until she could take the time to regenerate new bone and tissue. It would be a good opportunity to show the boys what the inner workings of a hand looked like. They could use it as an opportunity to take notes and draw their own sketches.

She sat down on the tiles and looked up at the primitive shower head that didn't spray, but dribbled. She turned it on anyway and sat under it, letting the water soak through her and help her turn into her own thoughts. Later, cleaner with a bandage around the still sore stump of her hand she perched on the edge of a stool and summoned a shadow clone to help dress her. There was no way she was redoing her bindings with only one good hand.

There were chakras outside her house, close to it, almost inside. She recognized the most frenzied one and sent her shadow clone out to open the front door and poof back into smoke once the simple task was done.

Moments later she heard him and his brother stumble in. The door to her bathroom had been left open and it didn't take them long to find her. Only Madara seemed hesitant to follow her into the bathroom, but Izuna had no reservations to hold him back or slow him down.

"In here," Sakura called, tugging the front of her robe shut.

"Sakura," Izuna called pushing the door further open and stepping in. Once once he saw her did he actually hesitate. "Are you okay?"

She chuckled. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

Madara trailed in after his brother and frowned when he saw her. "We saw you chop your own hand off. Why wouldn't we be worried after seeing something like that?"

"Because it's me and my regenerative abilities are second to none." She drew the stump of her arm closer to her chest, somewhat out of view. "Is that all?"

Izuna reached over her and picked at her arm, pulling it away from where she was pressing it into the folds of her robe. It was still cool and  _almost-but-not-quite moist_  with blood, though the bleeding had been stopped. He was soft as he pulled her arm out and settled it in between his own hands. Behind him she heard Madara hiss something.

"It's fine," she breathed, closing her eyes and letting the boy investigate. "I'll regrow the bone and ligaments another time and you and Itame can watch to take notes."

"The arteries…." Izuna breathed, looking up to the part of her arm that was unwrapped, following the blue and purple veins down until they disappeared under the bandages. "It was really gushing."

Sakura felt a bit better when Izuna looked up and smiled, satisfied with his observations. He was keen when it came to the medical sciences. Both him and Itame would make good medic nin if they choose to pursue that path later in life beyond just the basics.

"Sakura." She looked up when she heard Madara call out to her. He was still watching her, eyes more keen than usual. "What about you?" he went on. "You can heal your body, but…" His voice trailed off as he looked to his brother. He ended up shaking his head and muttering a short 'never mind' under his breath.

"You were really cool out there," Izuna breathed. "I've seen Tenji fight, he's one of the best swordsmen they have. That wasn't an easy fight but you did so well, especially towards the end. Were you holding back?"

"Baka, of course she was holding back," Madara breathed, sliding his hands into his pockets and looking out the doorway to the bedroom.

"Yeah, you were moving so fast towards the end, like you knew what he was going to do before he did it. You were faster than even Tobi."

Sakura coughed, surprised. "Tobi?"

"Yeah, I mean, Tobirama is a sort of jerk, like more so than usual for the Senju, but he's fast. Anyone could tell you that. You're really fast too."

"It's important for medical ninja to avoid getting hit so that they can provide aid to others during a battle. That was one of the first things I learned when I began training seriously. But all that aside, I am really tired, so if you don't mind I'm going to rest early and speak with you in the morning."

Izuna took her words at face value and hugged her before leaving, Madara trailing behind at a far more leisurely pace. Sakura felt them leave and started to move back into her bedroom when she felt one of the chakras flicker and then return. She stood on the threshold to her bedroom looking at a newly returned Madara Uchiha.

"Something you forget?" she teased, lowering her head and turning towards the bed.

"I didn't want to ask in front of Izuna because he's far too clingy with his hero worship, trust me, it used to be me for years and now its you, I get it."

Sakura laughed, pulling back the covers to her bed and turning around to sit atop the mattress. "I understand what you're saying. Regardless, you didn't come back here and sneak around your brother just to complain about him, did you?"

"No." He shifted awkwardly with his hands clasped behind his back. "About the fight…what made you change at the end? I was watching with my sharingan and there was a change in the way you held yourself and moved."

"It's an…older fighting style. I don't use it anymore. Why bring it up?"

"It didn't look like you."

Sakura watched him for a while and he fidgeted. His lips started to tug down and she recognized the signs of irritation. She didn't answer right away but left him to sit in the memory of his own statement. It probably sounded foolish to him now. Maybe in a minute he would give up and drop the matter.

"You're not wrong," Sakura finally said. "I did switch once I realized I wouldn't be able to win with my current self. You're asking because you saw I shouldn't have been able to win, right?"

He nodded.

More than the others, Madara was probably the one who watched her and Tobirama spar and train in kenjutsu the most. He had his own weapon to train with, but he was also proficient in the sword and took pointers from them sometimes. He recognized the way she moved and then recognized when she didn't.

"What did you do?"

"I could explain it to you, but I feel like that would mean explaining a different story, one far too long and tiring to drudge up now."

"Does it have anything to do with how sad you looked at the end?"

"I just killed a man," Sakura said, voice light and soft, eyes heavy and almost closed. "That brings me no joy."

"Then, next time we ask if you're alright, instead of waving around your injuries and saying they're no big deal, be a little more honest with us, because there's nothing else we can help with." Sakura opened her eyes to watch Madara turn red at the ears. "I can't heal you or even help bandage you properly, but I can at least listen when you want to complain. I can do that much at least."

It was a little odd to hear this coming from Madara. She didn't think of him as the most emotionally sensitive of all her young friends, but his words warmed her heart all the same. Madara, the destroyer of worlds, mad Uchiha, and puppet of the rabbit goodness, was telling her to be more emotionally vulnerable with him. It almost made her laugh.

"I feel like rewarding you right now," Sakura hummed, a sloppy smile spreading as her eyelids dropped again. She yawned behind her good hand and then shook her head to keep from falling asleep.

"What, why? I do this all the time with Hashirama. He's a huge baby that complains about his feelings all the time. I've gotten good at listening. I'm not just a kid."

"I know," Sakura said. "But just now you were very emotionally mature and it made me a little sad, like you're growing up on me too fast."

"I'm already twelve years old. I'm practically an adult."

"Liar, I know your birthday isn't for another two weeks." She laughed and his face went redder.

"I'm almost twelve, and then I'll be the same as any adult."

"Don't be in such a rush to grow up. It's very boring and every day it leaves me tired."

Madara huffed, crossing his arms. "That's because you do too much and worry about everyone. You're like the mom to a whole village. You're literally doing something every second of the day. I've never seen someone use shadow clones so much for menial things. That's not normal."

"I like being helpful," Sakura laughed, enjoying how agitated the young Uchiha was with her.

"Yeah, well you're  _too_  helpful. Ease up a bit. There are others here who can help out a bit more, like that Aoi guy. He spends almost all his time with his wife and their baby. Isn't he supposed to be working for you as a scout? How can he do that if he never leaves his house?"

"Children are children only once. His son will only be this age once in his life, and before you know it the babe is all grown up and the years have passed you by. Aoi deserves the time to be with his family, and at the moment I have no great need of scouts."

Madara huffed, starting to pace a bit. "What about the rumors of the Hyuga clan? Do you have a scout looking into that? What about the demon in the land of Lightning? What about that rumor?"

Sakura felt a bit unsettled but put on a brave face. "I'm sure it's nothing important and not something that we have to worry about while here in the garden. Everyone here is safe."

Madara glared at her. "The whole issue with the Hyuga is because of you. I hear my dad talking about it with some of the other elders. The Hyuga are trying to bring down their own god from the moon because they're afraid the god of the mountain who is 'friendly' with the Uchiha will come after them. Apparently your Senju friends have been trying to be allies with the Hyuga, knowing how much they hate us, and let it slip that you're a powerful god they're working on befriending."

Sakura felt her gut churn at the thought of someone using her name as leverage to intimidate others, but it was the chill in her mind that made her pause. Kaguya was more than just withdrawn, she was cold and still. That worried Sakura most of all.

"There's no way they could do a thing as foolish as summon a god for themselves," Sakura huffed. "It's foolish to believe in gods in the first place. They're nothing more than stories."

"What about you?"

Sakura wove the stump of her hand and grinned. "Still mostly human, just really good at healing."

"You don't think they're going to try something?" Madara asked.

"Oh, they'll try something. But maybe it would be best if I primitively speak with them to ease their fears. I don't want to agitate their state any more than it already has been." Sakura sighed, feeling her body deflate. "I don't want to be known as a destructive god that people only fear. That's not good for the world."

"Then ask the Senju to stop spreading rumors. It's not like we're fighting with them anymore, they should just stop bad mouthing us everywhere they go." Madara's whole frame was agitated, but it showed best with the height and wildness of his hair. It had been shorter, but now he was growing it out past his shoulders.

Sakura hummed, bowing her head and closing her eyes. Her head felt cold and all she wanted was sleep. Something was unsettling Kaguya and she was starting to suspect her sleep would be longer than just one night.

'It's a matter for the morning,' Sakura thought, directing the sentiment towards the rabbit goddess. Kaguya didn't react, but Sakura wasn't concerned. She didn't care for the woman that much.

Sakura waved Madara over and forced herself to sit up. He came over, dropping his hands to his side and eyeing her oddly. "Yeah?" he asked. "What is it?"

"It's just your reward for being so mature."

Sakura leaned up and held the back of his head, bending it down so she could kiss the crown of his skull. He went stiff at the contact and she could feel the heat of his face under her fingers as he blushed a bright shade of red.  _Uchiha red._

"Take care of the others until I wake up. I trust you."

Sakura slumped back and turned sideways to lay down in the bed, tucking her legs under the cover. She didn't put a lot of effort into covering herself, but settled easily in a familiar recline. She felt herself falling into sleep like a weight in the water.

Movement made her blink her eyes open only once to see a still blushing Madara pulling up her covers to tuck her in better. She fell asleep with a fond smile.

 


	14. Chapter 14

**Under the Rabbit Moon XIV**

* * *

Sakura's suspicion proved true when she woke nearly three days later, feeling heavier for it. Normally it wouldn't have been such a big deal, but what made Sakura new situation so dire was the fact that she woke up three days later, and in an entirely new location, her left hand regenerated.

"Shit."

Sakura turned suddenly, trying to get her bearings and stepped into moist soil, shocking the base of her foot with cold. She recoiled and looked down to see she was still in her sleeping things and immaculately clean. The bottoms of her feet and the base of her robe were still unsullied, even though the world around her was misty and wild. She hadn't walked here.

"Am I dreaming?" she asked out loud, reaching for her face and pinching the flesh of her cheek. It hurt. She attempted to dispel genjutsu, but she already knew she wasn't in the middle of an illusion.

Inner was silent and the other voice belonging to the rabbit goddess was unusually silent. No. If Sakura listened she could hear breathing, the sound of breathing in her head. That woman was there, present, but she was unable to form words it seemed.

Sakura didn't think kindly of Kaguya, a part of her actually hated the woman, but in this moment she couldn't help but feel a twinge of worry. What had happened?

'The cave.'

When Kaguya finally spoke it was softer than all other times, as if her voice was coming through a veil. Sakura almost felt pity when she heard how weak the sound was.

'Inside is our history.'

Sakura turned and saw there was a cave through the mist. Not more than a handful of strides it sat, looming and subdued like a tired mouth opened to the maw of the world. Sakura would have passed such a cave up any other time if she were a nin on mission in unknown territories. It looked like the sort of opening people would go down into and not come out of.

"How am I here? Where did you take me?"

'Inside is our history.'

Then there was silence. Sakura got the feeling that there would be only silence until she made a move, either to go back or go down into the cave. Unfortunately, she didn't know how to get back. She was lost in a brave new land. She really didn't have as much of a choice as she wanted to believe.

Sakura stepped down from the mound of grass into the damp soil, sinking her toes into it and knowing the world around her was real. She wasn't dreaming and this wasn't an illusion. Kaguya had brought her here for a reason and that reason was down there in the cave.

Moist soil gave way to stone. There was the dim of night all around her, broken only by a smattering of filtered moonlight, but down into the cave all light was choked up and Sakura had to move with her hands on the wall, using to toe of her foot to feel for a floor in front of her.

She felt something under her finger and brushed over it again, thinking it moss. It was warm and she had the silliest feeling that it was hungry. Nudged on by a sensation she couldn't name, Sakura pushed some of her chakra into the soft moss and a moment later it began to glow blue green, sending light all the way down the vein of moss into a deeper chamber. Sakura pushed more chakra into the moss and it glowed even brighter and farther.

Sakura bit her lip and hobbled down even deeper into the cave, feeling it stretch on for ages. The moss helped her see, but she was weary about pushing too much of her chakra into it, least it go on forever and she have nothing to show for it.

As if that was possible with Kaguya steering her.

Sakura descended for what felt like forever, but eventually the decent leveled and her passage into the underworld opened up to a huge cavern. Sakura pushed chakra into a new vein of moss and the room went bright for it, showing off the husk of a dead monster in frozen agony, face twisted and gnarled. Sakura turned and saw along the walls of the rooms what looked like lithographs of different animals and creatures. She saw one and stopped spinning.

The nine tailed fox was painted larger than life with a swirling mass of tails behind his crouching form, teeth bared, claws extended. There was a crack through his picture, but the drawing was immaculate. In a moment she felt a pang of grief for Naruto. Her sweet, sad, dead Naruto. It wasn't fair that she would have to see this and know he wasn't in the world with her anymore. It wasn't right.

"Why have you brought me here?" Sakura asked, voice sterner than usual. The hurt from Naruto's loss struck her too deeply to be kind any longer.

'Inside is our history.'

"Bullshit, talk to me now and don't give me any of that cryptic nonsense." Sakura reached out and touched the painting that was taller than her. "You don't get to hurt me like this without a reason.

A moment passed and then Saura felt a shiver. She turned and saw a physical manifestation, or at least a visual representation of the rabbit goodness standing before her. She wavered ni the green light, like a ghost or fog, but she was there, outside of Sakura's head.

"You," Sakura breathed, feeling a new wave of emotion. Hate? Anger? Awe?

"This is the chamber of my histories. In this world, in this dimension it is as you see above you."

The white haired woman turned her face up and pointed to the walls above the drawings of the tailed beasts. Sakura stepped away from the wall to better see the drawing she hadn't noticed the first time. Aside from the shriveled husk of a monster on the floor, it was hard to notice anything else.

Sakura stared in awe at the star scape and the history in paint on the walls of stone. She saw a brilliant light shooting off tails into the sky in the first picture, and then a seed taking root in fresh soil.

"That is the mother of all our god trees. She has sowed her seeds across the far reaches of our galaxies through matter and time without hindrance. Behold how one took root in your world, in your time, in your dimension just as it did in this time."

"I've heard about the god tree myth before," Sakura interjected. "A princess ate the forbidden fruit and gained chakra to use to save the world from war, and all her kids after that were also blessed with chakra and that's how we came to be today." Sakura shifted nervously, realizing that the princess from the myth was the same woman she was speaking to just now. "What else could there be?"

"The god tree I took fruit from was a child in a family far more vast. My family were a people who slipped through time and space like water and air. We searched all the worlds and all the realities for the seeds of the god tree, to eat even more of her fruit and grow stronger. I should have left this wretched world behind, but I did not. I turned my face against my people and stood in the soil of this land." She turned to Sakura and smiled. "You know how that went."

"What do you mean your people?" Sakura asked, having a fuzzy idea. "Are there more…like you?"

"Yes, all like me. Many of them live in different worlds in different times, sharing the fruit from the god tree until it is depleted. Once a god tree is barren of fruit they chase her seeds into a new world. The moon is where my clan last lived."

Sakura looked back up at the pictures and saw angles or winged lights dancing around the moon. There was a castle on the moon, shining just as bright. Another picture showed people with horns like Kaguya eating the fruit of a tree. Some had wings, some had fangs and claws.

A tile next to it painted the picture of a single woman in front of such a tree, holding all the fruit to herself, mouth open.

"I'm taking it they didn't like the fact that you didn't share your fruit with them," Sakura said, looking from one picture to the next until it ended with the next row, which was where all the tailed bests were painted.

"No, they would not have appreciated that had they known. In this world it is as it was in the last world, only I do not exist here other than as a dead husk."

Sakura gawked, stepping back suddenly. "That's you?"

"A version of me, actually. That is my fallen form after I had merged with the tree and the tailed bests to become the thing you see here before you. In this world, I was called by another name with another body, another life, and another history. Some would say it would be wrong to call this person a version of myself when we were so different, but maybe you would prefer the term sister."

"This is all very unsettling," Sakura breathed, stepping back and turning around. Most of the tiles with the tailed beasts had cracks running through them. Only one, the two tailed cat, remained intact. "This is not what I signed up for."

"Yet here you are." Kaguya flickered closer to Sakura, her form glowing and looming in the way gods do. "And here I am with you because of it. Listen and learn, girl. Why do you think I called you here to learn my secrets and know my histories."

"Cause you're a dick and you like messing with me?"

Kaguya loomed larger.

"I don't know. Does it have something to do with what Madara said, the thing that upset you so much? He was just repeating what he heard, we have no idea if he's right or if that's false information. What do the Hyuga have to do with this?"

"The eyes of the Hyuga can see the things unseen. In your world there were not enough unseen things for it to be known to the people, but it was still a secret the nobel clan took to their graves. It was why they still worshiped a secret vision of the rabbit goddess. They are not ones you would be wise to ignore or dismiss. They are not the Uchiha or the Ōtsutsuki Clan, so they may not have the ability to travel through worlds, but they can see and they know."

"Know what?" Sakura asked, frustrated with not being able to understand. She was usually the one person that could understand these sorts of things. "What are they doing?"

"You've treated Hyuga before."

Sakura remembered more than once, having to treat one from the clan Neji and Hinata would eventually come from. They hadn't been particularly noteworthy cases though, and none of them reacted strongly to the sight of her. She wouldn't have remembered something like that.

"Then they saw the me in you, and they know you are no idle threat."

"I'm not a threat."

"You are blessed with my great power. There is no difference."

She stared down at the palms of her hands where the two Rinnegan stayed shut. She didn't bandage they anymore, but she rarely opened them. Most days she forgot they were there. She closed her fingers over her palms in a pair of fists, feeling the frustration of being so far out of her depth.

"I didn't come back here because I wanted to create war or strife. I didn't even want to come here, but I've made peace with that for those kids. This isn't supposed to be an issue if I've never done anything to them."

Kaguya chuckled and it was deep and sharp, echoing off the walls of the cave. "You need not do anything to earn the hate and anger of others. Fear and blood, my dear, it's our fate. Your existence inspires their fear and they will call for blood when they can no longer make a bed in their fear."

"Why have you brought me here? To tell me all that? You think the sleepwalking field trip was really the best way to go. I'm sorry but this is all more than it needs be. The Hyuga can't do anything to us anyway. You refuse to let me die, remember? I couldn't leave this world if I wanted to." And a part of her still wanted to. Naruto and Sasuke and Sai and Kakashi were gone to a place she couldn't follow. She would forever be watching their backs.

"We can still be killed, don't worry. You are not without hope for an end. Just because your friends were not able to lay me to death's dark field does not mean it is impossible. My sister was so bested long ago. I have brought you here to tell you how and inspire your fear for a same fate." Kaguya reached for Sakura. "If not for your own life, than for the lives of all the people here who will die if you do not survive the cull to come."

Kaguya reached for Sakura and she flinched away from the touch, not wanting to have the woman in her head again, but it wasn't what she was expecting. She felt a rush, an overwhelming rush, and a world's history was in her.

"If history is to repeat itself here than you will need those two to help you stop it."

Sakura woke up again outside the garden, just past the stream where women took their washing. Her feet were dirty and her hands still had the dirt from the cave on them.

A world's history rang in her head and it was only thanks to inner frantically compartmentalizing everything that Sakura was as sane as she was.

The last words of the rabbit goddess rang out in Sakura's memory and she felt her self growl. "She's not touching any of the boys."

Angrily she stomped down into the waters, sinking up to her knees and then her calves in the cold stream. It was early morning and she heard the far off voices from her garden as she stepped deeper and deeper into the stream, until the waters lapped around her navel and elbows. She stood there for a while before taking a breath and submerging. She ran her hands through her hair under the water and let it all fall loosely through her fingers before breaking the surface again.

"Sakura!"

She turned and saw the youngest Senju boy at the crest of the small hill, looking down at her. He was also still in his sleeping clothes, having likely just woken up.

"What does it look like, kid?" she laughed, splashing the water.

His eyes lit up and a second later he was running down the hill, discarding layers until he was just in his pants and bare toes. "Swimming!" he screamed, jumping into the deepest part of the water just feet from her. A loud splash and churning wave made Sakura stager and laugh.

She waded over, waters coming up to her chin, to pull him up and set him on her shoulders. "What are you doing up and about so early. Don't tell me you were actually going to do your laundry?" Sakura teased.

"No, Usagi chan helps me with that when I need to do it. I was bored because you weren't in your bed to snuggle with and the Uchihas are  _still_  here. Madara's been pushier than usual. He's such an Uchiha sometimes." He wiggled around on her shoulders before leaning down to look at her in the face. "Where did you go last night?"

Sakura didn't know what to tell him. She actually didn't know where she had gone or how far away she had traveled, only that it had been a choice not hers to make. Instead of answering Sakura reached up and tugged the Senju boy down to hold in a hug, wading with him to the bank. He grabbed her and nuzzled into her shoulder, almost too big to get away with it now.

"I had another bad dream," Sakura finally admitted. "Sorry."

"You're supposed to tell me when you get those. That was why I was looking for you! We always snuggle when you have the scary dreams."

Sakura chuckled, heart light and happy. "Aren't you tired of taking care of me by now? You're not so little anymore, you know."

"No one gets too big to stop taking care of their mom. Besides, you need me, don't you?"

Sakura felt her heart melt into something less broken. How did she ever get so lucky with her little friends. She sighed loudly, hanging her head in mock exhaustion. "If you keep saying things like that I'll never let you grow up, and then that'll big a big problem."

"Not as big of a problem as Madara. Seriously, you have no idea how much of a ninny he's been, like someone left him in charge or something. I don't get how Hashirama likes him so much, but Hashirama is sort of a idiot sometimes, so I guess Madara is a idiot mistake he made." Kawarama sighed. "I'd be okay if it was just you and me and maybe Itame."

"What about Tobirama?" Sakura asked, stepping out of the waters and bending down to pick up the pieces of clothing he dropped on his way into the water.

"He's a stick in the mud that never lets me have any fun and he's super serious about everything. He's like another stupid Uchiha, only he hates Uchiha more than me. Also, he stabbed you once!"

"Honey, that was a long time ago, and we're friends now. That shouldn't be an issue."

"No one's allowed to hurt you."

Sakura hummed, patting his back. "I'd rather it be me than someone who can't heal, understand?" Sakura stopped to pick up a sash in the grasses. "Then does that leave just Izuna? He's not as bossy as Madara and he likes learning about healing. Would you be okay if it was him left behind too?"

Kawarama sighed unhappily and looked up at Sakura with the most grief stricken look possible. "Ugh, no! He's such a brat. He treats you like your  _his_  and he manipulates his way around everybody. I don't want to share you with him most of all!" He dropped his head onto her shoulder. "Maybe just Itame because he's got a crush on someone else already."

"I think I saw that when Usagi chan was helping him."

"Isn't he a little young for crushes?" he whined.

Sakura shrugged. "Maybe, but that's not really something you can help, is it? When your heart feels something you can't stop that. You can choose to ignore it or pretend it's not there, but the heart what it wants and we make choices after all that. Crushes are just an example."

The were at the top of the hill and the morning sun was still low in the sky, just barely risen but still warm enough to dry in. Sakura let Kawarama down and handed his things to him to take back. He pouted at the laundry in his hands but walked alongside her without complaint.

"My dad has a crush on you."

Sakura stumbled, looking around to see who else was up and who could possibly overhear their conversation. Only a few folks were up an about and none of them were close.

"Where did you hear something like that from?" Sakura asked in a whisper, looking flustered.

Kawarama looked at her balefully. "I'm seven, not stupid."

Sakura felt flushed and covered half her face with one hand, closing her eyes to the rest of the world. "Please don't tell him I believe him or even know about it. If I ignore him long enough he'll give up, right?"

The poor blonde just shook his head and pat her arm in sympathy. "It's okay. You can just keep saying no. He's going to die without another wife and it's not like he was even interested after our mom died until you came around and all the elders started whispering in his ears about super babies."

"Kawarama," Sakura groaned. "How do you know all this stuff?"

"Tobi-nii."

Sakura felt herself pale. "I think I'm going to be sick."

* * *

The next day when Sakura went out to check on Hashirama's work, she found his usual training site empty. A quick pulse of chakra showed her where she could look to find him. He was beyond the edges of her garden, further into the forests.

She set out in that direction, slipping back too easily into her old habit of tree hopping. The growth wasn't what she was used to in her time, but the trees were at least large and tall enough to leap for. Running through a handful of them made her miss her village hidden in the leaves. Some days all she missed were her friends and family, but then some other days she missed all the aspects of home; friends, family, and village.

She stopped on the side of the tree once she noticed Hashirama. With her chakra masked he likely hadn't noticed her, but she wasn't sure since she wasn't trying to be quiet. Crouching under the shade of leaves she looked down and saw his eyes were closed and he was concentrating on something. Sakura stayed to watch.

For a long time it was just him and his concentration, but then she saw a bud begin to grow out of the ground. Sakura didn't see why this had taken him so long or so much concentration. He had grown trees before. What was he doing now?

She didn't get the answer until the sprout turned up and began to bloom into shape. It wasn't a tree, it was a cactus, short and prickly.

"Where did you see one of those?" Sakura asked, suddenly behind his shoulder and too interested in his experiment to care about staying hidden.

Hashirama jumped in his seat and the plant growth subsided, no longer fueled by his chakra. "Sakura san!" he exclaimed, eyes wide. "When did you get here?"

She shrugged her shoulders and nodded to his plant. "Ah, I just showed up. What were you trying to do? Tell your teacher."

Hashirama flushed a bit and rubbed the side of his face. "I was trying to grow something more useful in battle. Wood is good for holding and binding and protecting I guess, but wouldn't this hurt more?" He ducked his face a bit. "I didn't want to ask you about this because I know how you feel about peace and I want that too, but I also…I also want to keep my precious ones safe."

Sakura flopped down onto the dirt beside him and stretched out her legs. "Don't apologize. My ideals are my own and I already promised to help you and train you as best as I could. I've never worried about your ideals, Hashirama kun. I trust you a great deal. I think if it came down to it, you would fight fiercely to protect your loved ones and that's not something you should ever have to apologize for. Peace sometimes comes after a heavy war."

"Sorry for sneaking off on you."

Sakura waved it off again. "I snuck out on you, let's call it even."

"Eh, but you didn't tell me where you went! That's not even."

'Maybe we should take him there next time.'

Sakura jerked and turned onto her side, grabbing her head and looking away from Hashirama, bracing for a sensation that let her know something else was reaching for control. There was none.

'Don't you dare touch him,' Sakura growled to the darkness in her mind. Kaguya couldn't have them, Sakura wouldn't allow it. More than anything, she wouldn't let anything else happen to the boys she protected in her garden.

"Sakura…san?" she looked up, hearing him call her name. "Are you unwell?"

Sakura inhaled the scent of moist soil and then exhaled, straightening once more. "I'm fine. I just was a bit dizzy there. I'm still tired some days it seems."

"Then you need to rest more." He suddenly held himself up straighter with a more alert posture. It was cute how he worried when he really didn't need to.

Sakura brushed some stray hair out of her face and then nodded to his cactus before forming a seal with her own hands and sprouting a Prickly Pear cactus. Hashirama watched, wide eyed.

"It's interesting you've actually seen cactus before. Have you ever been to the Lands of Wind? That's the only place where these sort of plants grow. It's too cool and wet for them to thrive in this climate."

As if reacting to her words, parts of Hashirama's plant began to turn pale. Sakura reached out with her hand and pushed. The plant caved easily. With a small knife kept in her robes she cut at her own prickly pear and it came apart almost as easily. Her's at least seeped a greenish water and seemed to have something inside of it.

"The idea was good, but these guys wouldn't be very practical in a fight. They take a lot of energy and you're not as familiar with their structure. Would would be best is to find a thorny plant in this climate."

"Like what?"

Sakura put the knife down in the dirt and thought about it before bringing her hands together and forming the seal again. She thought of Ino and her flower shop. Ino had often told Sakura the history of floral cultivation in the Land of Fire, as it was something that had to be heavily helped. Flowers were not as useful as fruits.

'This one wasn't introduced until maybe the third was a middle aged Hokage,' Ino explained, holding up a thick red rose. 'Before then it was just a weed and zealously destroyed.'

When Sakura opened her eyes a thorn bush was thick and full in front of her and Hashirama. There were long thorns, sharp enough to tear skin and pinkish red buds hidden throughout the plant. With another burst of chakra those buds began to swell and bloom open. Beside her Hashirama sucked in a breath suddenly as the thorny plant made for constriction bloomed into something beautiful.

"Oh," he breathed, mesmerized.

Sakura sat back and watched her work spread and bloom further. She hadn't remembered putting in enough chakra to make it crawl across the ground and bloom in all shades of red, even the shades that were as pink as her hair, but it was soon thick with color. She felt a pang in her heart for Ino and grinned through it. Ino would have been proud of such lovely flowers.

"These are roses," she told Hashirama. "They're flowers from where I come from that symbolize love in all it's shades and colors. I don't think ninja would have many uses for these flowers, but never the less, like love, they're a thorny dangerous thing."

"But still worth it."

She looked over at him and saw how dazzled he still was with the display.

Feeling her gaze he looked up at her and grinned. His smile was adorable enough to make her heart melt for it, and she remembered the feeling of unwavering determination she had cultivated when it came to how she would protect these kids. She would teach them. She would make them strong, and she wouldn't let anything or anyone come to harm them.

Hashirama's voice was like a silver bell in the meadow, ringing richly in her ears. "Teach me how to grow these!" _ **Please review!**_


	15. Chapter 15

**Under the Rabbit Moon**

* * *

Sakura was surprised how hard it was to keep up with the boys when it came to training. They did laps around the garden, an absurd number of push ups, squats, and crunches, and sparred until they sweat out their body weight in sweat. It was as if the spirit of Rock Lee had taken ahold of Hashirama and Madara. Sakura hadn't seen such intensity in either Naruto or Sasuke when they trained as kids. Only Might Guy's tutelage was quite as rigorous.

"I'm old, let me rest," Sakura complained with a laugh as she plopped down and went to adjust the weights at her ankles again. Hers were a bit heavier than the boys, but that was only because she had been using them longer. Soon they would be moving up and she didn't doubt one day they would surpass her.

Hashirama was more than willing to comply as he trotted over to sit down beside her in the grass but Madara merely scowled at the pair of them.

"It is best to push yourself when you feel you have reached your limits. How else do you expect to surpass those limits?" he asked in a sulk.

"Maa maa, Madara chan," Sakura teased, feeling light headed and tired. She waved her hand flippantly in his direction, remembering how Kakashi would wave at her when she badgered him about his laziness. "Go easy on this old woman. I'm tired and need a rest."

"You're not old!" Madara hissed, ruffling up like an agitated cat. "You-you don't look much older than a teenager."

Sakura giggled, enjoying the way he flustered. He was getting better at maintaining his dignity around her and she missed the days when he seemed to blush and stutter about nearly everything. "No, I'm suuuuuper old. My joins are all worn out and I need another rest. Old people should be taken care of, no?"

"How old are you, Sakura san?" Hashirama asked, pulling out his water to drink.

Sakura flopped all the way back on the grass, frowning to herself as she thought her answer over. She had been seventeen when the war ended. She had gone to kill that woman in the tree when she was only seventeen, and since that day she didn't seem to age as she should. Sakura knew she had spent more than five years in the different dimension Kaguya had sent them into, but none of that seemed to age her. Her hair and nails grew, she exfoliated and there were signs of aging, but when she looked at herself in the mirror there wasn't any difference. There were still curves of youth in her face that she should have outgrown.

Brand new cells, born out of nothing kept her from aging past her prime.

"I don't know how to answer you, Hashirama." Sakura bent an arm over her eyes and exhaled slowly. "I lost track a while back."

Madara huffed, seemingly impatient with her. "What year were you born in? Just do the math."

"I haven't been born yet, that won't work for me," she admitted before she knew what she was saying. Sakura felt herself still and lifted her arm up off her eyes just enough to see underneath the ends of her sleeve. Madara was glaring at her but Hashirama was gaping, eyes wide with believing.

"Wow, what does that mean? Were you hatched from an egg or like a fruit from a tree? Are you from a future?" Hashirama asked, voice gushing.

Sakura dropped her arm back over her eyes and laughed. "Na, I'm so sorry, Hashirama kun. I couldn't help but tease you." She rolled over, still chuckling as she sat up. "Oh, sweeties, don't ever ask a woman her age, she'll tell you weird things."

"You're not a woman," Madara huffed, looking away. "You're just an overgrown brat girl.  _Seriously_."

She heard him click his tongue at her but Hashirama just laughed. "Madara, you don't need to be so mean to Sakura san just because you're not getting your way. Isn't it fine? What difference does something like age make?"

Sakura sat up, grinning and watching the eldest Senju as she climbed to her feet. "Besides, you both should know better. I'm not telling you anything you could take back to your fathers to encourage them."

It was the first time Hashirama seemed off kilter as he flustered and tried to come up with some sort of defense. Madara's ears were still red, but he smirked at the distress of his friend. Sakura though she heard a muttering of 'serves you right,' but wasn't sure.

"Regardless, if you're both feeling up to it, I want to check on something Aoi told me about last night. The Uzamaki clan was spotted near here and it sounded like the were trailing something big. They're gone now, moved on, but I have a feeling their quarry is not so far."

"How did you know about the Uzamaki?" Hashirama asked.

"I just told you, Aoi informed me. He's the scout."

"Yeah, but we're pretty far out. How far does his birds go?"

Sakura shrugged. "You should ask him that. I've never needed to know that since my focus was always on keeping the garden safe. In this case, something that large made him nervous."

"What was it?" Hashirama asked, voice hesitant.

Sakura shrugged once more, walking off in the direction opposite of the camp. "I'm not sure, but I don't have any pressing duties, so I'll take the time to go out and have a look for myself."

She had suspicions of course, but she didn't want to tell either boy that she thought it might be a tailed beast on the loose. She knew from the tiles on the walls that there were several free on the land, while several others were still locked away in that cave. She hadn't been back since that one awful night, but she had felt a tug and thought about returning more than once. She could tell when it was Kaguya whispering to take the boys with her, and when it was just her own personal curiosity.

Enough nights had passed that she no longer feared the rabbit goddess taking her over and spiriting the two boy away to that far off cave in the middle of nowhere for God knew what. Still, Sakura had started to keep an extra close eye on the two boys. This wasn't their first trip out and she doubted it would be their last.

Sakura took a few steps out and then stopped, turning around to see hesitation on both boy's faces for different reasons. "Would you like to go back and wait, this time?" she asked, knowing that neither would.

Hashirama and Madara shared a look and their resolve hardened.

"No, we're ready," Hashirama cheered, smile back in place. Madara nodded an affirmation, expression relaxed and neutral once more.

"Perfect. Let's hurry out so we can make it back before lunch."

* * *

Every few days Sakura would take the two oldest boys out with her on a scouting type training run that lasted longer than any of her training sessions with the other boys, and even though she left clones of herself behind to oversee their work, it wasn't the same.

"I'm going too."

Madara looked highly uncomfortable with the stance his younger brother was taking. He knew that look in Izuna, and was convinced there was no stopping his younger brother, regardless of who it was trying to shut him down. Izuna was used to getting his way, more so than Mandara. Where as the elder Uchiha brother was dutiful and honest with his rare bursts of rebellion, Izuna was manipulative and cunning with his.

"You-you can't just decide that one your own, and besides, didn't you not want to go with Hashirama?" Madara asked in a whisper, pulling his younger brother aside.

"I don't care. You're both alone with her too long and it's annoying. Stop monopolizing all her attention."

"Is that what this is about?" Madara hissed. "You're jealous."

"Clearly!" Izuna admitted, staring his brother in the face without a scrap of shame or embarrassment. "It's not fair, I was the one who was here first, before you or that Senju monkey. I liked Sakura before either of you two."

"You really should ease up on the hero worship. I know it can be smothering, and Sakura san is trying her best to help so many people at once. You can't expect her to be yours exclusively."

Izuna glared up at his brother, pouting. It wasn't a harsh glare filled with hate, but it was still a glare and Madara was not used to such disdainful treatment from his younger brother. Madara would give his life for Izuna. Why was he being treated so coldly?

"Baka nii. You don't understand anything."

Madara flustered. "I don't know what you're getting at. Why are you so unruly?"

"Hormones, probably hormones."

Izuna went still from the voice over his shoulder. Stiffly he rotated and turned enough to see Sakura kneeling behind him, chakra perfectly masked, expression teasing. The younger Uchiha's face went straight to red in a dangerous flush that Madara suspected would lead to overheating.

"Sa-sa-sa-sak-ur-ra ss-san?" Izuna's stutter was worse than Hinata's.

The older woman didn't seem to mind though, as she grinned easily and reached out to ruffle his hair and laugh at his expression. "Ah, don't be like that. I'm just joking with you. You still have a few more years before people anticipate you getting moody and pimple faced. Though, from what I know of Uchiha, they seem to glide flawlessly through the physical side of puberty. On the other hand, emotional adjustments are…."

She thought of Sasuke and his puberty years and couldn't help but sigh.

"Actually, now that I think about it, don't grow up too fast on me." Sakura straightened and brushed the grass off her knees. "Madara, I was actually looking for you because the Senju are going back to visit their father today. Hashirama is about to head home if you wanted to say something."

Madara huffed, dropping his arms to his sides. "Why do I have to say goodbye to him every time he has to leave? It's not like he's a baby that needs it."

Even though he grumbled he still marched out.

Izuna was still red faced and frozen in place. Sakura felt a tug between what she knew she should do and what she wanted to do to make him react even more. She knew well and good that he had a little crush on her and wanted to monopolize her when he saw his brother getting more attention that him, but it was best she remain oblivious.

She didn't want their dad getting any ideas because he was too old for her (way too old) and she didn't want any of the boys getting carried away with their ideas because they were just kids. No matter what Ninja law said about the age of consent and adulthood, they were kids and would probably always be kids to her.

Sakura looked around and saw they were mostly on their own and her teasing side won out. Playing dumb, Sakura leaned down and felt the boy's face with the back of her hand and gasped softly.

"Izuna, are you not feeling well? Your face is so warm."

"Is-is not!"

"You don't think so? But your skin is so flushed too. I think you might have a fever. Should Usagi chan look after you before I leave?"

"No! I'm fine enough to go with you." He blinked and a little more clarity came into his eyes as he looked up at her anew. The flush of his face faded under her hand. "I mean, if I'm feeling ill I should be beside you, shouldn't I? Is there someone more suited to treating me than the best healer in the world? I'm one of Uchiha Tajima's surviving heirs. Isn't that important?"

Sakura folded her arms and sank down into the grass beside him, crossing her legs as she descended. Sitting properly with her arms crossed Sakura looked up at Izuna with a critical eye that made him squirm.

"Izuna, I don't give a rat's ass who your father is. You should know better by now that it doesn't matter what clan or tribe you come from. You think I like you because you're an Uchiha heir, because you're skilled for your age?"

The little confidence Izuna had gained with his last comment flickered and died in his eyes. "No?" he meekly guessed, holding his breath around her again.

Sakura clicked her jaw, thinking over her next few words carefully. "I guess you wouldn't know better, since that's how this world likes to work, and that's how you've been treated thus far. But really, that had nothing to do with it." She fidgeted a bit, suddenly uncomfortable where she sat. "I guess I cared about you and those other brats long before I knew who your fathers were. You were just the kids who trespassed on my garden."

"You say it doesn't matter who my dad is, but does it matter that I'm not the oldest?" he asked with a hike to his voice. "Is that why you're taking those two out all the time?"

"It's true that I'm taking those two with me because I'm the most confident in their abilities and the training we do is suitable to the level they're at. Is that what's bothering you?"

"Madara nii is only a year older than me, not that much at all. I'm nearly as skilled as he is and just as eager. If pushed I know I can do just as well as he on the field. I'm skilled too."

"I know you are."

"Then why don't you take me with you?"

"I didn't know you wanted to go. I didn't ask either you or Tobirama because both of you had other things to do, and Itame and Kawarama are still better off practicing their medical jutsu here."

She didn't mention anything else about being afraid for what might happen to Madara and Hashirama when she wasn't looking now that she knew both boys were marked by fate to take on some grand burden, and all because they were the reincarnations of Kaguya's grandchildren.

Izuna sat down on the grass beside her and dropped his head onto her shoulder. "Sakura san, am I important to you?"

"If you weren't do you think I would have tried so hard to have you stay here?" Sakura uncrossed her arms and used one to pin him to her side in a hug. "Of course you are."

He turned his head to look up at her. "But I'm not the  _most_  important person to you."

"Such a thing doesn't exist."

"How do I get to be your  _most_  important person?"

Sakura felt her heart hurt for how honestly Izuna seemed to want this thing. Her heart hurt for how misguided she believed him to be with his desires. "You don't have to be something like that."

"Is it because I'm younger than you?" He pulled away and stood up suddenly, face pink with a new flush. "I'll be twelve this year, and I'll grow up fast, fast enough. I won't always be like this, and then-and then-!"

"Izuna!"

The new voice didn't belong to Madara, though when Sakura turned she saw him running up the hill towards them. Behind him, trailing in his armor was their father. Tajima waved to the youngest Uchiha and called again.

"I've come to fetch you. You and Madara run back ahead of me. I need to speak with Sakura san."

Izuna's flush took on a new shade as he balled his fists at his sides. Tajima came up to stand alongside his son and looked down at Izuna, staring harder when he noticed Izuna wasn't running along. A second passed where there was real energy between them before Izuna dropped his eyes and bowed his head. The tips of his ears were red as he looked away from Sakura and started to run down the hill. He didn't look back.

"Is he being overly emotional with you?" Tajima asked, sounding apologetic.

"I wouldn't say that. He's a young boy. He's just the right amount of emotional." Sakura stood gracefully in a single move before brushing grass off her lap. "It's just a bit much for the Uchiha standards."

"It is pleasing to see you have not lost your good humor," Tajima sighed. "I don't see how that could be with all your additional responsibilities. We are grateful for the help you've been to restoring so many of my clansmen eyes in addition to what you do for my sons."

"You're always welcome, but I doubt this is what you wanted to talk to me about. Does it have anything to do with the Uzamaki and Hagotomo clans being local?"

"You knew?"

Sakura shrugged. "A little birdie might have mentioned it to me. Is there something you need me to help with?"

Tajima nodded before swallowing. "Talks between the clans have put me on edge. I am negotiating for an extension of the cease fire, but I fear the visiting parties from the Hagotomo clan will see this as a sign of weakness and push for more aggressive action. I do not doubt this is similar to what the Uzamaki will whisper in the Senju's ears tonight. Both clans have been suffering from the lack of aid and support in their battles, the Uzamaki more so."

Sakura knew that the Uzamaki clan had taken heavy losses recently and that the Hagotomo made those loses even more severe until Naruto's ancestors ran to the Senju. Their land in the whirlpool was weakly defended.

"I know better than to spout my usual nonsense about peace and setting aside old grudges. So, what will you have of me, Tajima san?"

"The Senju have not asked anything of you?" When Sakura shook her head he went on. "I don't trust the politics of the Hagotomo clan at this moment. The Uzamaki clan has suffered heavy losses from recent excursions we know little about, and that makes the Hagotomo eager to squash what is left of their enemy clan. But we are unwilling to aid them in this."

Sakura thought to herself about the rumors of Uchiha running off to aid their neighbors in fights. She suspected it was something that Tajima didn't approve of or wasn't aware of. Tajima was too crafty and too sly to not be so unaware. Still, she wouldn't fault him for it.

"You want my help in this?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "How?"

"You have said you are an ally to our clan. For the sake of my sons, would you be willing to act as a part of our council tonight during talks? Your words would carry weight."

"I don't want the same thing as you Tajima. You think I would be an aid to you during these talks?"

"It would help them to see my ally is powerful and my decision to not press into more bloodshed is the most wise. I know what they think of me now. They will say I am weak and care for my sons above the clan."

Sakura bit her lip to keep from saying something about how such thinking was normal and that clan politics were toxic cess pools where filthy bad habits multiplied. That would be rude.

"I will go with you for the meeting and provide support, but I am hesitant to act in a formal capacity. Tell me, do any of the Hagotomo clan truly believe what happened when I revived the dead and stayed your armies, or do they say this is also a weakness on your part? If they do not believe in my power it would only hurt your standing to have me there…a woman with no clan to her name."

Sakura already knew the answer. Aoi had told her the gossip his birds overheard.

Tajima swallowed and looked off to the side. "I would feel better if you were there."

"Then I will go. I will not be an official member at the table, but if anything were to happen to you I would be able to provide support. You can have that strength at least."

"And if things are to go sour?"

Sakura didn't like the weight in his words, like he really believed things would go south. "You have seen me conquer death. Do not think I am a weak ally in this matter? If it were to come to it, and they wished to overthrow you, they will only have regret left to feel."

Tajima watched her, seeing something new in her. His gaze felt heavy on her and she had to turn her face away and close her eyes, least she catch him seeing something else in her. She was his ally, nothing more.

"I had a sister once."

Sakura opened her eyes and turned to look at the Uchiha with surprised eyes. He saw her expression and laughed.

"Yes, a man as heartless as I once had a sister as soft as flowers. I assure you it is possible. But she died very young and never saw me become a father, so I'm not sure how she would react to nephews. Still, I would like to think she would enjoy them as much as you enjoy my boys."

"Huh," Sakura breathed, rocking back on her heels. "You think I resemble your sweet little sister? And here I thought you were just sweet on me like the other one."

Tajima smiled behind a hand and coughed, cheeks flushed. "Maybe there was some truth to that, but I am not so disillusioned to believe you could ever see anything worth while in myself, so I tried very hard to do away with such aspirations. You need not worry about me. I hold only brotherly affection for you at this time. I would not be able to say the same for the Senju baboon. Is he still reading you his poor poetry?"

"Oh gods," Sakura moaned, dropping her head into her hand and laughing. "It's so hard to keep a straight face!"

"I feel quite sorry for you."

"It's been over a year now, I think he's close to giving up."

Tajima's expression turned dower. "If there is one thing I know about my eternal rival and dreaded enemy, that man does not know when to give up. You are better off pretending to take a lover or consort to deter his advances. To stay single is to welcome and encourage his affections."

"Yeah, well, I'll keep myself above his influences for a little while longer since I don't fancy the idea of giving up this freedom to any man."

"Never?" he asked, amusement in his tone.

"If you have any hope for yourself crush it now. I'm dedicating myself to singleness for the foreseeable future. Romance is too much work when there is a world that needs to be saved." Sakura unfolded her hands and waved the Uchiha off. "I will change and meet you in less than an hour's time. Go, your boys are far ahead of you by now."

She waved him off once more and turned back to her house to change into something more inconspicuous. She would be someone in the shadows, watching from a distance.

Dressing herself in the mirror, Sakura paused and watched her reflection shift out of synch. On it's own the eye on her forehead began to split open. Sakura saw red as the sharingan stared back at her and Kaguya spoke out.

_"You don't want to see what will happen?"_  she asked.

"What do you want?" Sakura asked, feeling a shiver as the woman's presence was so much closer and strong than before.

_"This has happened once before. Would you like to see how it ends?"_

Sakura didn't say anything but the rabbit goddess pulled her into a vision all the same. Sakura saw her third eye spin and then darkness, nothing but black as far as she could see. In the ink of the world around her Sakura felt something on her hands and looked down to see the first color.

Red

The world was covered in blood.

"These are not peace talks. In many worlds and many times, when the Hagotomo come to speak with the Uchiha, it is almost always the same. They are as hungry as wolves and cunning as hawks. They will reach for power and they will fail, but their slaughter will tip the scales between the Senju and the Uchiha. You think the Uzamaki will want to sit back and watch? You think the Senju will be as determined to hold onto peace with the Uchiha so weakened?"

Kaguya was there, kimino stained red. Her face was streaked with blood as she glared angrily. Sakura felt something pulling at her chakra and the eyes on her palms were open, ushering in a world of new things, born out of nothing.

"There are only two things a true god demands."

_Fear and blood_.

"What will you bring?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe you noticed the quick updates? Yeah, I'm going to keep them daily for a few weeks I think. Some days will have multiple chapters uploaded, so I'm sorry for the flood. I'm still not used to A03 and I'm trying to be better about using this site as opposed to ff.net, I'm trying.


	16. Chapter 16

**Under the Rabbit Moon**

* * *

Sakura sucked the juice from a pomegranate over her teeth and swallowed the seeds. She was perched on the edge of the porch outside the main Uchiha house. It was one of the few solid structures, while many others were consisted of tents. The Uchiha never thought they would stay on this land as long as they have. Some still refused and pitched their tents, but Sakura could see more and more were starting to entertain the idea of homes made from wood and foundation.

She had arrived a little earlier than she said she would and had been anxious enough for Tajima to take pity on her and let her have a privet corner to simmer down with some fruit. Madara had noticed her but not said anything as he was ushered along by the elders. Izuna hadn't shown up, but Tajima said it was not unusual for his youngest son to skirt his duties when he was upset; a fact he was likely embarassed to admit as his father.

Sakura sucked the juice from her fruit and held it up higher over her lips as the juices started to run down her chin from her mouth. She hadn't eaten like a lady should, going in teeth first. She knew she should have been more composed with a knife and fork. There was nothing proper to the way she tore with her teeth and gnashed with her jaws.

The third eye was throbbing, wanting to open and see the scenes from other worlds that Kaguya kept teasing Sakura with. In so many other worlds and in so many other timelines this had gone many different ways, but they were almost all bloody. In her own history Sakura remembered the Hagotomo clan being a footnote in history, wiped off the face of the earth before the founding of the village. They had been genjutsu masters and close relatives to the Uchiha and nothing more.

Sakura took another bite.

Juice ran over her lips, staining them red. She didn't care to wipe any of it away as she scanned the surroundings for chakra. There were a few ones scattering in and she wondered if they were the Hagotomo who were said to be due. A fraction of them split off just outside the lines of boundary and hung back while a main force continued on.

Odd.

Sakura took another bite and tossed little remains into the grass. The seeds slid down easy with her swallow and she took the time to wipe her mouth with the inside of her wrist. She didn't need to look nice, just humble, so that's what she went for.

"Sakura san, our scouts have spotted our guests."

She turned and saw one of the younger looking Uchiha (they all looked young) standing behind her with his hands clasped behind his back. She grinned when she recognized him as one of the young men she could tease and banter with and not one of the youths too scared to even breath in her presence. Not every Uchiha would talk to here and of those few only one or two would actually talk normally with her. This kid actually used sass with her, which she appreciated.

"Where do you want me?" she asked, folding her hands and following him towards the house.

"Preferable in Tajima sama's bed warming it, but we'll put you at the table now."

Sakura snickered, eyes creasing at the joke he had run past her more than once. "I'll keep to the table, thank you. How is your wife?"

He almost smiled back, but he had a very Uchiha face and smiles were almost out of place on it. "She is well and appreciative of the acknowledgment. When you are done here please come visit our home so that we may show you are gratitude."

"How are your eyes? Not still giving you any trouble, I hope."

"I would be surprised if that was the case after your excellent care."

"I'm glad to hear it."

He showed her to the table at the center of the room the men would be using. One other side of the table, past the seat cushions, were two smaller, thinner tables. Sakura was to sit at the head of one of these tables. She was not a part of the conversation, which was fine, but she was still important enough to be given a head seat position.

It was only as Sakura started to settle in that it dawned on her what her position actually represented. Her table was where the wives and sisters sat. At the head, she was either Tajima's wife, or sister. She knew what he told her, but she also knew what this would look like to others. The mistress would not be so well seated, so she knew she couldn't move, least she risk tarnishing her reputation.

A few more women and younger men started to trickle in. The women sat at one table, the youths took the other table. Sakura kept her head down and eyes lowered, pretending to be disinterested in what went on around and behind her. She could feel the differences though, of each member that walked through the door. Some had chakra well developed, some were more physically suited, and then others didn't belong to either category.

At her table there were only five other women, and for the youth's table Madara sat without his brother along with three other Uchiha boys and one from the Hagotomo clan. The seat for Izuna had been left empty.

The men came in last and Sakura held her chakra close to her, keeping it smooth and hidden from detection. Tajima took a seat at the head of the table and opposite him there was a man Sakura assumed to be the Hagotomo clan head who took a seat at the other end of the table. There were several Hagotomo men at the table, but Sakura felt the bulk of their presence lingering outside the house.

 _Wrong_.

No one seemed to notice her more than with a quick glance that ended dismissively. As she anticipated, the culture was highly misogynistic and didn't seem to see her as anything more than a baby maker. No one asked about her.

Sakura didn't touch her food as it was served to her, and sat without speaking or moving even as the women around her stayed stiff at either side of her. At first Sakura knew the Uchiha women disliked her for her position at the head of the table, but by now they were more unnerved by her presence. They were rightly weary. One of them Sakura remembered from the day she dragged Kawarama back from death's arms. She looked up at the Uchiha woman and the woman dropped her eyes.

'A wise one,' Kaguya chuckled.

Inner Sakura reached out and pulled Kaguya back and this time the rabbit woman sank willingly back into the darkness of Sakura's mind. She sank too easily.

"We will not be blessed with a better time to strike than now. We could wipe them out, once and for all."

Sakura looked up at the Hagotomo clan head who's name she had forgotten to ask of. He was as old as Tajima, and if it were not for the clan stitching across his robe's arms she would have mistaken him for an Uchiha. All the Hagotomo were dark haired with darker eyes. Many wore their armor.

"And that will achieve what?" Tajima asked. "We have enjoyed a respite from the bloodshed, and I am not eager to sacrifice over half my clan for the eradication of another. We push the advantage we may very well win, as you say, but at what cost?"

"That is the fear and weakness talking," a younger man huffed.

"You don't lead a clan with rash teeth," a much older Uchiha huffed, glaring at the younger Hagotomo. "Tajima is not so foolish as to forget we still need a future."

"What future is there with the Senju and Uzamaki in the world?" asked the Hagotomo clan head. "We are being gouged by those greedy bastards. The Uzamaki are rich with wealth from all the land they have stolen from us. We are struggling to survive like this."

"Those embargoes put against your trade were a result of your aggression, not ours," the oldest Uchiha in the room huffed. "You think with your teeth."

The Hagotomo clan head held up his hand, cutting off the repeating rhetoric. "Enough with the old sayings, we have little time for words."

He snapped to one of the youths at the table and the younger Hagotomo boy got up with his scroll to lay across the table. As it rolled open Sakura heard the gasps and envied their position at the table. Where she sat she could not see.

"A nine tailed fox," someone whispered.

Sakura's blood went cold. Naruto?

"More than just that, it's one of the legendary god beasts. Those are what is left of the old gods who once roamed the world in ownership, before the foundation of chakra they say. He is ancient and timeless and incredibly dangerous. Such a beast would be a tremendous foe."

"Aye. The Uzamaki are clever bastards. They found this thing in the wilds of a land they sought to absorb into their empire and were able to bind it."

"Bind it?" an Uchiha interrupted in disbelief. The horror in the shock was hard to miss. "The were able to capture it?"

"Yes, that is what our spies told us as soon as it was done. How this is possible we are still not sure. Never the less, we knew it would wreck havoc on our people if they learned to control it. To wield such power? They would be god masters."

"They do not still have it?" Tajima asked, voice tight.

There was a dark chuckle from the Hagotomo clan head as he folded his arms and sat back. "No. We were able to infiltrate and disturb the beast's bindings. Once free…it turned on the Uzamaki most brilliantly. They are weak and in need of aid."

"Where is this god beast now?" Tajima asked with a voice as tight as a bow's string. Sakura could hear what she knew to be righteous fear in his voice. She should have given him more credit for being so wise as to feel fear when it was due.

"It is another reason we sought out our brothers, the Uchiha. Apparently, the Uzamaki were afraid that you…the users of the infamous pinwheel eyes, would be able to control this creature. We have not been able to test that theory…but we believe it is sound enough to explore."

"You want the Uchiha to try and tame a god beast for you and turn it on the Uzamaki after seeing what happened to them after they tried such a thing?" one of the Uchiha huffed.

"It is not a baseless claim."

Another scroll was rolled out and then the discussion turned o jutsu theory and the Hagotomo went on about what they knew best: genjutsu. Some of the Uchiha started to lean in, but others were very clearly against the idea. Then the insults came out again. Uchiha were called weak and cowards. Hagotomo were called greedy and foolish.

The arguments circled.

Sakura wanted to get up and see the scrolls, but she knew what they would show her. She wanted to speak up and say something, but she knew what they would say back to her. She wanted to run out and see these things for herself, but she didn't know where to go, so she didn't.

A chakra spike turned and rushed towards their room, stopping just outside the door. A few members stiffened, hearing the footfalls before the door slid open and there was an Uchiha boy with his head bowed.

"My lord," he addressed Tajima. "It is dire, they have the young master Izuna."

Sakura's veins were ice as she looked up for the first time in the meeting. Tajima stood as well and Sakura heard Madara rise also from behind. The whole room was tense enough to combust at a single word. Even the visitors knew to be worried at the news.

"Who has my son?"

"The Uzamaki, my lord. They demand the Hagotomo leave at once in return for the boy."

"Izuna would not be caught so easily by those bastards," Madara growled low.

'Would he?' From nowhere Kaguya rose up from the dark of Sakura's mind and Sakura let the woman touch her third eye. Sakura saw a world where the Hagotomo kidnapped a child and played the same game. She saw another world where the Hagotomo were open about their threats. She saw another world where the Hagotomo used their genjutsu to make it seem like they had the heir. She saw another world where it was Madara instead of Izuna. But time after time it was the Hagotomo being crafty. That was their skill and that was their downfall. They were masters of illusion and genjutsu, that was their bloodline, their inheritance, their tradition. It was in their DNA deeper than pride.

Sakura remembered the group of Hagotomo branching off when the main force came into the camp. She remembered thinking how odd that had been.

'Where is he?' Sakura asked Kaguya. 'Show him to me now.'

Kaguya was more than delighted to give in and throw Sakura's mind into a daze as the world's details faded and Sakura's awareness stretched. She felt chakra from life forms, weak and strong, new and old. She recognized some and didn't of others. Her senses stretched far and if not for her closeness to the boy, Sakura would have missed it.

There.

'He's hurt,' Sakura realized, sensing how weak Izuna was. Around him were people she did not recognize, but she couldn't tell if they were Uzamaki or Hagotomo.

It didn't matter.

Sakura stood slowly and turned towards the rear of the room, where the doors slid open to the porch. Tajima and a few others noticed her leaving, but no one thought her worth the effort to stop. Only Madara seemed to want to chase after her.

"We must not give in. They threatened your heir. You see what they are!" a voice cried out.

"This is war!" said another.

"The young master!" wailed one of the women.

She heard Madara patter after her, but was stopped by a stern word from his father. There was more shouting and Sakura kept walking. She was far away, too far away to hear their words when she felt a change in the chakra ahead of her.

Kaguya showed Sakura a scenario where the Uchiha heir was killed to stir the bad blood.

Sakura ran.

She let Kaguya's chakra flow into her legs, making her as light and fast as the diving of a falcon. The land under her trembled for it and she knew she left craters in places she touched down with too much force. Fear made her a ghost over the world's surface.

'Death won't let you take back another. You won't be able to save him from the darkness if you're too slow this time.'

Sakura traversed leagues in a single step. The eyes on her hands were open and wide. She felt her chakra pooling there and she wasn't sure why, but she didn't question it.

She saw the group, dark haired, dark eyed, all wearing Uzamaki markings. A few still had genjutsu around their faces to make them look like they had red hair and blue eyes. They were Hagotomo though, Sakura could tell.

They heard her coming, she hadn't tried to be quiet about it.

A wall of stone went up between them and Sakura passed right through it, seeing with her third eye the illusion it really was. She saw another obstacle form but knew it wasn't anything of substance so she kept charging.

A real wall of stone rose up and Sakura braced against it and flipped backwards, dodging the knives it shot out. She was impossible to hit, even as the flurry thickened. She was too fast to the side and then above and then below it all.

The party holding Izuna hostage was moving away from her, closer to the clan, running in time and pulling up their genjutsu as they went. They would make a show of how they killed Izuna for all the Uchiha to see.

Seven….eight….nine…Sakura counted twelve of the Hagotomo members, and noticed how several of them sported wounds from Izuna's struggle. She was proud of him for that, even if she suspected he hadn't fought them at first. They were supposed to be allies. Trickery made it easy for them to take advantage of him. Twelve adults against an unsuspecting child was no fair fight, even if her Izuna was exceptionally skilled.

Sakura felt the bones grow out of her and charged with an ash spear that she sent hurtling at the Hagotomo towards the back. He deflected it easily but didn't account for her sword to be there, fast and furious in his face. He tried to block, and protected himself for a few short stabs, but Sakura left arm came out with another sword sticking out of her wrist. It caught him in the throat and he fell dead.

 _Eleven_.

"Bitch," she heard someone scream before a tagged bomb was tossed at her.

She avoided it easily and only shuddered at the blast while shaking blood of her hand. Sakura was dressed in red, just like the Kaguya in her vision as she advanced on the fleeing Hagotomo. She took another down with just as much effort and gained ground. A pair broke off to hold her off while the rest of the group headed towards the Uchiha lands. They were close and Sakura suspected she had seconds before they were in range to do what they needed to do.

A year and a half of training with her bone swords hadn't made her a master, but it made her fast enough to do what needed to be done. Two heads rolled in the grass as Sakura pushed down and made a crater in the earth as she launched herself above the rest of the fleeing group. She landed in front of the party, cutting them off. Their illusions were like wet paper to her perfect Sharingan in the center of her forehead.

The eyes in her palms were tingling.

"Izuna!"

Sakura heard Madara from behind her and saw Izuna pick his bloody head up. His eyes were damp and glistening as he saw Sakura, one eye more heavily bruised than the other. There was a pair of scratches across his cheek, too shallow to be from a knife. She suspected they belonged to someone's fingernails. The front of his shirt was ripped in places and she saw blood from cuts all over. Behind his back his arms were tied awkwardly to make his elbows into holds for his captors. The way his knees were raw and bleeding made Sakura's temper flare.

Izuna looked to his brother and then, weakly, his face turned towards her. She felt the moment he was aware of her, sad and fearful all at once. He saw her perfectly as the katana came down across his throat, ready to end his life. His lips moved and she read the first part of the word before her attention shifted into her own jutsu.

_Kawarimi no Jutsu: Body Replacement Technique_

It wasn't just a slit, she was positive she could recover from that, but once they saw the bodies had been switched another man came up alongside the first and slashed with his sword across her neck. Sakura was facing away from the boys, but she heard it when they saw it. She felt it when sword severed spine. She felt it when she was detached, head from body, third eye going black, as she fell limp in the grass, decapitated.

Madara and Izuna were screaming. She didn't know how she knew this or how here senses were still aware of the world when her eyes were dead and her ears no longer a part of her. But Izuna was screaming bloody murder and Madara was just as hoarse from the effort as he reached his brothers and fell down beside him.

What must she look like to them?

'My turn,' Kaguya cooed, picking up and seeping into the forefront of control.

" ** _Izanagi_**."

The dead and decapitated pieces of her flickered out of existence as Inner Sakura came up alongside the original in the drifting void of their subconscious. Sakura knew it was a genjutsu that had just been cast, but didn't know how until Inner came over to explain.

In the real world, half a heartbeat later, the world shifted with the warping of a new reality and Sakura's body emerged, whole and untouched, right behind the decapitator. The signs of their handy work were no where to be seen and her white neck lay bare as a swan's perfect and whole.

'You've never seen this used before, but I have. The Izanagi is a genjutsu that is cast on the user instead of others. When activated, the caster removes the boundaries between reality and illusion within their personal space. To a degree this allows the user to control their state of existence, but it is normally active for only the briefest of moments.'

'Is that what she did? Did I really die?'

'You remember your hands tingling? She cast it at the beginning of this encounter. Somehow….she knew you would need it. I saw it happening and saw the history of it as it happened.' Inner Sakura turned in the void and held up he hands. 'The process is explained to have initially involved the administration of imagination, and the spiritual energy which forms the basis of Yin chakra to create shape and form from nothingness. Then, through the application of vitality, and the physical energy which forms the basis of Yang chakra to breathe life into the prior form.'

'Who did you see use this?' Sakura asked.

'You would have known Danzo, but there were many Uchiha in the histories who used it. Izanagi can be used only by those with the genetic traits of the Sage of Six Paths. If you had used your Sharingan it would have made it blind, but she used the Rinnegan in your hands for it.'

Sakura blinked. 'I remember feeling it, but I didn't know what it was. She did that because she knew I would take his place? She knew what I would do. She knew what all of us would do. She knew'

'Yes, I think so too. But don't let her take over completely. She's blood hungry and malicious when it comes to killing. You need to go back.'

Sakura felt where she was and felt where Kaguya was. 'I don't know if I can.'

'You have to.'

Inner Sakura pushed Sakura forward and it was like being pushed through rose thorns. It hurt and it burned, but Sakura sank back into the seat of her mind and opened her eyes.

Out of the nine she remembered there being only four were left standing. Around her were the bodies left in pieces. Her hands were red as blood dripped around the lids to her hand's eyes. Sakura blinked, feeling something funny with the eyes in her head. They felt…deeper.

She looked around and saw the world for what it was, little different other than the bodies and the blood. There were bones sticking out out of the ground everywhere like white spikes.

Sakura thought she noticed the Uchiha coming out with the remainder of the Hagotomo clan, but they were not what she was looking at. The man who tried to slit Izuna's throat was running.

'Fear and blood,' Kaguya cheered, happy to let Sakura take over this time, for some reason.

Sakura didn't think about it, but opened the third eye on her forehead and the brilliant Sharingan spun before a blast of concentrated black energy, first only as big as a finger's point, burst out in a beam of screeching death. It struck one of the men in the chest and a hole appeared, burned through. He fell dead with the interior of his ribs visible to the outside world, his wound perfect and almost too clean. Another man who had been running in front of the dead one screamed as his arm was suddenly just not there; another casualty of the blast.

How many did that make now? How many had she killed?

"My son!" one of the women was running out to her and Sakura saw her sword raised. She was a woman but she was also a warrior, she saw it in the way the woman sported pants under her yukata along with simple armor. Black fire consumed the woman and made a wreath around the grounds that obscured Sakura's form as well as the fleeing cowards.

"Damn it, she's ruined everything. Kill her now!"

She heard the impact as several more Hagotomo came for her but were caught by her living fire and devoured. She had lost track of the bodies by now. They went down so quickly.

 _Ants_.

Sakura turned back to fleeing Hagotomo and her eye spun again with more light, but one beam was enough for one day, she mused, and instead lifted her hands. The Rinnegan were gold now, glowing and bright. Sakura could see a whole new world through them. A world where these men didn't exist.

'Creation of the gods consume you.'

It was a though and they were gone. Touched by a blackness that consumed them in an instant, leaving nothing behind. Sakura let the fire die down, feeling lighter than before. Looking down she realized why. Bone had torn her clothes apart. Across her chest an extra set of ribs had fused together to protect her front and preserve her modesty. Pointed bones grew out of her back at the shoulder blades and down her spine. She had horns again.

"The god of the mountain."

"It's real."

"It was true."

She heard their wails and looked up to see half the Hagotomo clan kneeling and the other part frozen in fear. The Uchiha looked at her like one might look at a god; in fear. And there she stood before them dressed in blood so well. She couldn't see where Tajima was standing, but she knew he was there somewhere, looking at her too.

 _Izuna_. Where was he?

Sakura turned away from the bodies, content to let them lay where they had fallen. She drugged through the wet soil and stained grass to where Madara held his brother. They were a little ways away from the others and Sakura was surprised to see they were both on their own still. None of the Uchiha had come to their side.

Izuna looked hurt in more places than one, but he was holding his face and moaning into his hands as Madara rested his forehead on his brother's back. They were suffering together.

Sakura knelt in the grass, close but not touching. She still felt full of thorns as her bones began to grow back into her. The only ones she left were the ones that protected her heart and lungs. With her robes hanging loose around her waist, she also needed those bones for modesty's sake.

Sakura slowly reached over, without touching, and let her healing chakra seep into Izuna's back and fall into the places where he needed it best. He was hurt all over, but nothing serious. He would be fine.

"I'm so sorry, Izuna," she breathed, feeling her words thick in her throat. "I'm so sorry I let them hurt you. I'm so sorry I let them…touch you." She felt her own tears and trembling. "I should have seen it, I should have known. I'm so sorry. I never should have…never…"

Madara looked up first and his eyes were bleeding from the newness of his awakened bloodline. Then Izuna lifted his head and stared up at her with a Mangekyō Sharingan just as brilliant and just as new as Madara's.

Both boys were now awakened and it was because of her, because they saw her death. Their eyes would suffer because they had to see her die.

* * *

"They're resting now. I'm more surprised you are not. Last time you extended so much energy you became a tree for a month."

Sakura looked up and saw Tajima rubbing his left wrist and walking casually over to her. He frowned when he saw her blank look.

She felt empty and she knew it showed on her face. His eyes were so black and clear she could see her reflection perfectly. She looked little better than a ghost with that haunted look to the edges of her frame. She felt like a ghost too.

Her bloody things had been stripped away and replaced with clean garments, smelling of fresh cotton and lavender. The yukata was a bit more finely tailored than she was used to, but it was one of the few without a clan symbol that she would accept. Originally someone wanted her to have the late matriarch's kimino but Tajima had saved Sakura from that fate by insisting she be given something more usable.

Thankfully, in the whole of the clan, he at least spoke to her without the fear and trembling in his voice. The others, even the ones she had healed in the past and gotten to know better, wouldn't even raise their faces to look at her now. No one dared the sight of her now.

"I still have work I must do before I may sleep," she said. "There is a creature out there that is my responsibility, least someone else take him for their own and make a mess of things again."

"The nine tailed fox?"

"Yes."

Her voice sounded empty even to her own ears, like someone had taken a spoon to her and scooped out all the parts of her insides that made her  _Sakura_. What was left? She didn't feel like anything and it angered her. She didn't want to look this fragile and lost in front of anyone. She had just massacred 3/4 of an entire clan with undying fire and god like powers. She had just used Izanagi, a forbidden jutsu that was banned by the Uchiha for it's destructive effects on their beautiful red eyes.

' _The Uchiha, descended from the Sage, are able to perform Izanagi with their Sharingan. Even with such an eye acting as a medium, gaining the power to temporarily control reality's flow as the user sees fit comes at a price; one has very limited reserves of time within a single eye for invoking this technique._

_This technique would normally be used for only the most dire of situations and for but a brief moment as after the Sharingan with which Izanagi was casted exceeds its limit, the said eye becomes powerless and is rendered blind permanently, with the rare exception that its sight and power can be restored to the said eye by further evolving it into a Rinnegan.'_

What was she anymore? Was she even deserving of the name Sakura, or should they start calling her Kaguya now?

 _"_ Sakura san, where will you go? _"_

His voice drew her out of her thoughts and she was grateful for it. They were taking her to scary places.

"The hills, far from here. I may not be seen for many days here after. I can not say how successful I may be in bringing back my quarry, but I can not ignore the responsibility any longer." Sakura swallowed, feeling how dry her throat had become. "I must go now."

His hand on her wrist stopped her, but she didn't look back. In contrast she could feel how cold she had gone. His skin seemed to be burning, but it was her not him that was in a drastic state.

"They're fine. You should not defeat yourself for this. We will praise you for unlocking the secrets of the  _Sharingan_  without true loss or murder. I've seen it done so terribly before, with brother striking down brother for the prized eyes. They will be stronger for it. They will be warriors that no one may strike down so easily. They will thank you for this, for becoming great fighters."

"Yes. They will be warriors that shall stand atop the world, but I fear what that means. I see a world that needs saving, and the burden will fall to those precious children. I do not wish to see such terrors with the dawning of a new fate. I will pray for peace and work for it unceasingly, but I fear it will be for nothing."

He let her wrist go but didn't step back away from her like she thought he would. His voice was thoughtful as he regarded her again. "You speak as if you see the end of the world with those eyes of yours."

Sakura stared down at her hands, at the eyes that were closed and hidden. "Sometimes I think I do."

* * *

 


	17. TIMESKIP

**Under the Rabbit Moon**

* * *

Sakura left soon after that, taking nothing with her.

She felt thin all the way through and knew that she was using chakra from Kaguya to stay awake after exerting herself so flamboyantly. She could never get used to the feeling or be comfortable with it, but she would endure it for now.

Seeing what had become of the two Uchiha brothers, she knew that the narrative of their fates was advancing quickly. There were things she saw in the visions from the Rabbit Goddess that made her believe that a new season of war was at hand. In many of the visions where the brothers had the Mangekyō Sharingan, it was a world on fire with not only the Senju but the Hyuga and other clans that eventually get hunted out of existence. Who remembered the Bo-Ren clan, or the Shimigami clan?

'And I'll be asleep for so much of it,' Sakura groused, hating how each step made her feel thinner in the wild world. But at least she was heading in the right direction. Story and destruction made a trail for her to follow if she was clever enough to pick it out. Sometimes the trail went cold, but she had always been lucky enough to pick it up again with a little extra searching.

She tracked for days, weeks even. As soon as she got too close the nine tailed fox would bolt and put leagues of distance between them that she could follow easily enough, but at nowhere near that rate of speed. It was already taking her so much to just move in one direction and stay awake.

She needed to sleep but if she did, Sakura knew she would be stuck in a tree for an extraordinary amount of time. In the time she rested, the trail would have gone cold and her hopes of tracking down the fox would be less than decent.

Sakura stopped at a river and rested on her knees, bending low to cup water. She paused before her hands could break the surface. Staring back up at her was a face that was old, older than any seventeen year old had a right to look. Cracks around the eyes, creases around her mouth, white in her hair, it all reminded her of Tsunade.

'She's angry because you're not resting and this is her way of retaliating. She's taken your youth from you.' Inner  _tisked_  loudly from the interior of Sakura's mind. 'You're not even that old.'

'I don't care what I look like. This has to be done.' Sakura pushed through her reflection into the water and drank She needed to keep moving. Not sleeping was making her age and if she aged too much it would be impossible to resist a sleep inside a tree, and the longer she put off her tree sleep, the longer her slumber would last.

Sakura was trapped by time. She needed to find that stupid fox and catch him soon. She needed to seal him away and make the world safe. She needed to go back and train the boys. She needed to check on the Uchiha. She needed to watch the Uzamaki.

She needed to keep moving.

* * *

 

Many years passed before Sakura was seen again.

-

-

-

* * *

Itame shifted nervously while beside him both Kawarama and Hashirama smiled in encouragement. Behind them all it was Tobirama that was as stoic as ever.

"I feel like the youngest daughter in a fairytale," Itame grumbled through his forced smile. "That or cattle you're selling at the market."

"You're both," Tobirama said, voice steady.

"That's not what you say to someone who gets engaged," Hashirama chastised.

Itame deflated a bit and he hung his head. "Forgive me Usagi chan. I'm betraying my promise to love you forever."

"I'm sure she doesn't even remember you mentioning something like that, much less cares what you do with your life. It's been what…years since you last saw her in the gardens," said Kawarama, scratching at the scar on his cheek. He glanced sideways up at his brother and smiled apologetically. "It happens."

"It's unavoidable. We are in a position where refusing a union at this stage would jeopardize our relationship with the clan going forward. We need the stability that comes with finances and they need power. There is no other way but to accept your fate."

"That's easy for you to say," Itame hissed, glancing over his shoulder at Tobirama. "You've never felt affection or so much as a crush in all your years alive. You're an unfeeling bastard and you have no idea what I'm going through."

Hashirama rushed in to appease his younger brother and keep the peace, waving his hands to bring attention to himself. "Ah, b-but it's not all that bad, you know. After all, she chose you over the rest of us so that must mean something. She liked you more than any of us, more than me or Tobi at least."

"Brother you look like a lame duck. Go back to how you were," muttered Tobirama.

"Yeah, it's no wonder Mito chan chose Itame over you or the ice cube," chuckled Kawarama.

"Don't be such a smart ass," Itame muttered, secretly glad for his brother's words.

Out of all the siblings, Itame got along best with his younger brother who, surprisingly enough, matured in leaps and bounds after the absence of their beloved mentor. Everyone had been worried he would revert to a younger disposition and wallow in grief, but it was the opposite. Kawarama grew up. Four and a half years turned him into a stunningly brilliant young shinobi equally wised and skilled on the battle field.

Between the two of them, Itame didn't see why Mito chose him over Kawarama. Sure, Itame and her were the same age, but…plenty of women were taking younger husbands, and it wasn't like the marriage would be anytime soon. There would be a year of engagement so the two clans could get used to one another.

Also, it was a transitional year where Hashirama would begin to take over his duties as the clan head. Their father was still around, but Hashirama was going to be eighteen soon. Other clans had already passed the reigns of leadership to their heirs…like the Uchiha.

"Oh, I see the caravan!"

Hashirama exclaimed, almost jumping in boyish glee at the colorful details adorning the ox drawn carts. The glimmer of light bouncing off armor made every solider seem like a gem set in a long, stretching necklace. It was well known among the clans that the Uzamaki liked pretty things. This also baffled Itame because he didn't consider himself… stunning.

Still, there was no use in backing out of it now. If she wanted the odd sheep, she could have the odd sheep. The boys had already been warned by their sickly father to give the princess anything she wanted.

This treaty could not weaken…not now with the Hyuga, Uchiha, Yotsuki, and even the Chinoike being as active as they are. Things had turned sharply bloody in the last three years, and it didn't appear to be returning to stability anytime soon. They  _needed_  strong allies.

"Itame."

"Yeah?" He looked up at his eldest brother and it was scary how in that moment Hashirama looked so old. Hashirama looked like an adult…like a leader. Itame was still only 15. It would be years before he looked that cool.

"Don't force yourself. If you truly do not want this, if you are unwilling to be in a union, tell me. I will stand behind you no matter what. Family comes first."

Itame had to drop his head, he couldn't look his older brother in the eye anymore without becoming flustered. "Aniki, if you talk like that our father isn't going to want to give you the title of clan head."

"That's not what I am concerned about."

"You should be," Tobirama muttered, keeping his lips as still as possible while the caravan drew closer. His eyes were sharp and glaring, searching out for any sign of deviation or threat. "Act with a bit more maturity befitting the eldest Senju son."

"You really take the wind out of my sails, Tobi," Hashirama sighed, drawing closer to Itama and pulling him into a side hug. "You should be more cute like Itama and then maybe girls will finally notice you."

Tobi clicked his tongue. "Such a thing is unnecessary."

Itame almost missed it, but Tobirama was so fair skinned in comparison to the rest of them, that the slight blush at the tips of his ears stood out. It almost made Itame gasp. Tobirama never blushed over anything.

"Oi, that really bothers you?" Itame asked, leaning forward to try and see around Tobirama's shoulder to his face.

"No."

But Itame was looking for it, so he caught the flinch in his brother's lips when he lied. Tobirama had a tell when it came to lying about things he thought embarrassing. Like the time he lied to their father about where the ladies underwear came from when Butsuma discovered it in their shared living space. Tobi could lie about anything else with a perfect poker face, but every so often there came a thing that made him unsettled, and that was when his tell came out.

"It's okay, you have plenty of years before you're considered bad stock. Don't feel bad about your younger brother passing you up," Hashirama laughed, likely not knowing how his words were teasing. "I got passed up as well you know!"

"I already stated that I am not bothered by this. You insist on bringing this up and continuing it. Find something more useful to discuss." The blush on his ears didn't abate, but it also didn't spread. Tobirama has excellent control it seems.

"No, now I'm curious. Is it a girl in particular, or just the fact that you're still single?" Itame asked in excitement that was a little too much like Hashirama's.

"That is not your business."

"But if you needed help we would have been willing to help," said Hashirama.

"I don't need help from either of you," Tobirama ground out.

"Not cute at all. If not from me, than at least take a tip or two from Itame. He already has a bride and he's only fifteen."

"And a half," Itame corrected quickly. He was in a hurry to grow up.

"Yeah, fifteen and a half and already he's engaged to a princess. Why not ask for some pointers?"

"Clan leader or not I will slice you open if you keep rambling so needlessly."

"Hey, you guys gonna start to shape up, or am I going to be the only one who greets these people like a grown up?" Kawarama asked, facing the road with his hands clasped in front, looking the picture of nobel welcome. He was only 14, but with his growth spurt he was already looking older than the boy Itame was used to seeing.

"Remember what I said, Itame." Hashirama's hand fell onto Itame's shoulder. "Family comes first."

* * *

"Accepting this job will unsettle our relationship with the Land of Lightning clans even further."

Madara looked up from the katana he had been cleaning and frowned at his younger brother. Izuna sat at a low table in the center of the room with white rice parchment pinned down to the table. Next to the parchment was a well of black ink that he dipped in brush into before beginning his next calligraphy piece.

If someone were to walk by and peer into the room, Madara didn't doubt that they would see a young man more princely and regal than any Uchiha had a right to be. In spite of how similar they were, it was clear to the world that Madara was the wild and ruthless brother, while Izuna was the paragon of grace. Some of the elders were still grumbling about how the wild monkey was their new clan head when they could have had Izuna pulling their strings.

That was fine. Either way, Madara didn't care so long as his brother was happy. If Izuna wanted to be clan head Madara would gladly step aside, but all Izuna wanted was to be left alone it seemed. Being clan head would frustrate him too much and leave him less free time to devote to silly think like poetry and calligraphy.

Madara returned to the sword laid across his lap and missed his Gunbai Uchiwa, but the fan was already well taken care of and it was his other weapons that deserved care and attention.

"If we don't take this job I am afraid of how the other clans will perceive us. We have taken enough losses to be weary and this job is not a guaranteed blood bath."

Madara reached for the uchiko ball and took it to the edge of the blade after removing the choji oil. His tools lay scattered around him, and the more he worked the more he was reminded of his father. Tajima was well known for his sword care. It was one of the ways Madara best remembered his late father.

"Their perceptions are worth less than the opinion of flies," Izuna spoke, sounding more like a prince reciting poetry than the brutal warrior Madara knew he could be when the situation called for it.

"Regardless, our funds are lacking. I intend to accept the job. Relocating the Chinoike clan will be a wise move."

Izuna finished his piece and laid the brush down in its holder before standing up and moving across the rice mats to sit beside his brother, mindful of the cleaning supplies Madara left in a mess around him.

"I will be a part of this relocation effort."

Madara dropped the uchiko ball onto his lap and twisted where he sat. "Not likely! You know the rules, one of us has to stay behind. If I die you're the clan heir."

"Those old fools are daft if they think I'll sire any Uchiha for them with a woman in our clan," Izuna sneered, showing the rare ugly side of his personality that only ever came out when it was related to one of two things; the Senju or Sakura.

In this case, it was the fact that no one seemed to believe him when he insisted that he was saving himself for the god of the mountain, the woman that saved his life over four years ago and awakened their Mangekyō Sharingan. Even so many years later, it didn't make a difference to Izuna.

"They're going to only get worse about it. You heard about the Senju, right? Apparently the Uzamaki princess is marrying one of the younger ones. Itame, I think."

"Lucky for him," Izuna huffed.

Madara picked up the uchiko ball again and ran it over the blade once more. "It will provide their clan with additional funding and support, but I am more concerned with their relations to the faction led by the Gold and Silver brothers."

Izuna nodded. "Quite the arrogant pair. They get swallowed up and spit out by a beast god and less than a month later they're building their own army."

"Armies make allies, and that's what they are doing with the Uzamaki."

"And by extension, the Senju." Izuna's lips tugged down. "How displeasing."

"We already have too many enemies, with the Hyuga assaulting our operations here in the Land of Fire, and the Gold and Silver brothers coming down from the Land of Lightning to be thorns in our sides, I think this is the best out of a bad situation. We're not going to survive if we sit on our asses."

"It's still not a god enough reason to leave me behind," Izuna said, handing a clean stitch of wiping paper to his brother. "I'm second to only you and on some days even that is debatable."

Madara took the wiping paper with a grunt and used it on the blade one last time, careful to cover every inch of the metal and avoid getting oil under the blade's collar.

"I will talk to them about it, but you know that the elders would be more willing to let you go if-"

"I know," Izuna cut off his older brother with sharp words and an even sharper expression. "You don't need to bring it up so much, as if you agreed with them. I don't see you in any hurry to take a wife, clan leader. Where are  _your_  sons?"

Madara sighed, sliding the katana back into the red saya, reversing the process originally used to remove it. "I'll apologize then, since that was not my intention. Obviously, your life is yours to live in any way you see fit. But you are my most precious brother, and some days I feel like you are all I have left. I would like to see you happy, no matter what that looks like."

"Bring back Sakura. That will make me happy."

A passing breeze picked up the smell of the oils and polish, making Madara's mind dance with memories of his father and days long past. A part of his chest pinched at the memory before his mind shifted over to another memory that had nothing to do with the smell of oil and wiping paper. He remembered Sakura sliding into bed, tired and slap happy almost, even though she was missing a hand from a fight with another Uchiha. He had chastised her then, and she…

_Sakura leaned up and held the back of his head, bending it down so she could kiss the crown of his skull. He went stiff at the contact and she could feel the heat of his face under her fingers as he blushed a bright shade of red._

_"Take care of the others until I wake up. I trust you._ "

Izuna would bully his mercilessly if he knew Madara had such a precious memory with the woman others feared like a god. It didn't matter that Izuna had plenty of his own precious memories. When it came to Sakura Izuna became unceasingly selfish, like a child.

"I wish I could. It would have been done long ago. The only one who knew where she went took to his bed and died last year." Madara started to reach for his cleaning supplies and packed them back up in the wooden box that once belonged to his father, the clan head. It would pass on to whoever led the clan next.

"Yeah, well he also said she planned on coming back."

"He did."

Izuna didn't move, seemingly frozen in time as the wind moved the longer strands of his bangs across his face. "Is she?"

Madara stared down at the sheathed sword resting atop his lap. "I'm not sure."

* * *

Mito was…interesting. Itame honestly didn't know what to make of her. She was the heir to the Uzakaki clan and all their fortune, but also the possessor of a strong chakra and an unrivaled skill in sealing arts. She could be dangerous if she wished to be.

But she…wasn't.

"I can't go with you, it's muddy."

Itame didn't know what to do with words like those. Yes, it was muddy. That was a fact. What did that have to do with anything. She said she wanted to see the gardens where they grew up and trained with Sakura. None of the adults were watching them so closely after a week of being together, and Mito confessed she was starting to feel claustrophobic. Izuna had shared stories with her and after a few Mito told him it would be better if she saw this place for herself.

"Do you not want to go anymore?" he asked shyly. "I-I could carry you."

Mito didn't reply, but held up her arms to him as if expecting him to pluck her up. Itame reached for her and turned her around onto his back and she yelped in surprise when he started to take off. In a fumbling of limbs she grabbed for his neck and shoulders, establishing a better hold before he took off for the trees.

She seemed flustered in the beginning but after the first few seconds she grew quiet and then silent, holding onto him wordlessly as he supported her on his back. Itame could feel her head burry into the crook of his neck and imagianed her eyes closed, ignoring the heights and rush the frightened other girls.

They touched down before long and Itame was quick to slip in between the layers of the genjutsu that still remained, even after the absence of its caster.

"That's how I know she's still alive," Kawarama once told them.

Every time they passed through the genjutsu it made Itame feel relieved. One day they would meet Sakura again. As long as she was alive it would be one day…one day soon.

"This is it?" Mito breathed, sliding down off his back into the grass.

She turned around, looking over the number of customized houses that had been grown and shaped by both Sakura and Hashirama. Some of them were plain and nothing to glance twice at, others were filled with secrets grown into the wood, miniature figures standing out like carvings in the molding that you missed unless you were looking for them.

"Yeah, we lived here for almost three years with Sakura san. I mean, we were visiting her here before we lived here with her, but its the same idea. We spent a lot of time here, training and learning. It was always the safest place I can think of…even now."

Itame pointed to a cluster of trees at the far edge of the garden's boundaries. Mito looked to where he pointed and gasped when she noticed the bodies in the wood, twisted and mangled.

"Some guys tried to attack it shortly after news of her absence spread. People thought that if she was gone they could come in and take over, but her chakra is still here, in the earth. It triggers with killing intent and those rogue nin are the result. So yeah, you're safe here, always."

"Is…is she coming back?" Mito turned around to face Itame. "You said she left, but is she really gone? I don't understand how this could be possible if she is so far that you can't find her."

"I don't understand it either, but I trust her. Sakura taught me so much about helping people and I always remember her that way, stripping roots, mixing plants and making them into paste for remedies, showing me techniques to extract poison that I still can't master to this day. She helped so any and was really soft and kind, but everyone just remembers the god in her, how she beat death and was terrifying and powerful."

Mito crossed her arms slowly, eyes narrowing as she watched Itame talk. At the end when he looked up at her he faltered at the cool look on her face, not understanding it.

"You speak fondly of her."

"We-well yeah. She practically raised us."

"But she's not your mom, she was just another woman that was kind to you."

"Ah, don't let Kawarama hear you say that. According to him she's his mom. He died and came back as her child, he says. He was too young when our real mom died, so she is all he knows."

"And you?" She asked cooly.

"Me?"

She nodded. "Yes, Itame. Do you see her as your mother like your younger brother or is she someone that I can feel justly jealous of. All you say of her is praise."

"Not like that!" Itame gasped, suddenly realizing what she was so cool about. She was jealous of Sakura's memory. "I never thought of her like that. She was so much older than us at the time, remember. I didn't see her like that, not like Hashirama."

Mito's single brow shot up. "Hashirama?"

Itame silently cursed his slip. "Uhhh, I mean…I think he might have had a crush on her at one point, but that was because she was the only other person who could manipulate the wood art and he wouldn't ever admit it but he was lonely for someone else who could understand him. He's so much older than me too, mature too," Itame stuttered.

"Don't talk about yourself like that," Mito said, stepping closer. "Your elder brother may seem all that to you, but you fail to see yourself objectively. You think I chose you because I'm stupid, Itame?"

Suddenly Itame felt red and flustered all over. "No, hime?"

Mito took another step closer and entered his personal bubble, toes nearly touching as she stared up at him. "I will never be a fool. I know what will become of Hashirama, the god of shinobi they call him. He is someone who will stand atop all others in this world for his skill and prowess. Sage of the seasons and master of the earth, anyone could tell you he is destined for great things."

Itame felt himself shrink.

Mito uncrossed her arms and reached for the collar of his shirt in a bold move that he wouldn't have attributed to a princess. Her eyes were fire, burning into him, though. "He is not someone I wish to stand beside, unloved and second to his duty. I'd rather shrivel up and die that become the pretty princess that's never kissed."

Itame felt his heart hammer in his chest. She was so close and her lips were as pretty as peonies, smooth and glistened with paint for princesses. She smelled so lovely too.

"Tobirama is the same, but I don't think he's capable of the love I would need in a marriage. Hashirama would try, he'd kill himself for it and fail all the same, but I couldn't imagine that from that boy, could you? No, I was not born for such a loveless life."

"And I'm what's left?" Itame let out before he knew what he was saying. He felt fear in his heart and wanted to take the words back, to slap his hands over his mouth and apologize. He had sounded so bitter and almost angry.

Mito grabbed his hand and Itame didn't pull away when she held it up. "You know when I first saw you, do you know what you were doing with these hands?" she asked.

He watched her for a moment before slowly shaking his head.

"You had your hands in the bloody body of a man from my clan, keeping his lungs pumping while repairing the damage to his respiratory system. You didn't stop to think about the situation, you just helped him so easily and naturally. You talk about that woman who was a healer and taught you all those things like she's such a great person, but you don't think of yourself like that even though you're a healer too. You know how rare that is in a man?"

"It's not normally what would make fathers proud…when they hear their son wants to learn the healing arts like some old woman."

Itame whispered, remembering how little attention he earned between his brothers and how easily it was to do as he wished for how little his father cared. No, Hashirama was born to stand atop the world and their father knew that first. What use was there for a third son?

Mito's fire dimmed as she turned her eyes down to his hand, the one she still held. Slowly she pulled his hand to her lips and kissed his knuckles, softly.

"I decided then, that boy was the sort of man I wanted to marry one day." She looked up and the fire was back. "I'm not going to let any other woman stand out in your eyes. You may not love me now, but you will, because you have the warmest heart of anyone I know."

And it was like ice around rock melting, slowly and a little bit at a time, but consistently. She wore him down day by day, and after the first few weeks it took Itame by surprise when he found himself feeling light in the chest when he heard her voice or saw her in a crowd. His eyes were drawn to fire red hair and a posture made for a princess.

Hashirama and Kawarama both teased him about it, but Itame didn't care. Maybe he wasn't destined to stand atop the word or wear greatness like a cape, maybe he wasn't a death defier that was mature beyond his years. Maybe he wasn't the most handsome of boys.

He felt good enough for Mito.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ages  
> Hashirama and Madara 17.5  
> Izuna and Tobirama 16  
> Itame 15  
> Kawarama 14


	18. Chapter 18

**Under the Rabbit Moon**

* * *

They were sitting in a tree eating rice balls when the visitors came.

"Who are they?" Itame asked, leaning over her shoulder and resting his chin there.

She reached up to pat the side of his face before sighing. "Those are the Gold and Silver brothers and their followers. The Uzamaki have worked with them in the past and my father was supposed to be introducing them to Hashirama, don't you remember when I told you this yesterday?"

"Nope."

Mito sighed and rolled her eyes, but there was a smile on her lips. "You're hopeless."

Itame straightened up, grin melting into a more serious expression. "They are from the Land of Lightning, though. Aren't we not on friendly terms? I know they hate us from the Land of Fire."

"Yeah, but they hate the other clans in Lightning more. They want to stage a coup and take over, I believe. They may say otherwise, but something about their eyes…hungry, all the time."

Itame frowned, watching her. "They frighten you?"

Mito swallowed. "They carry themselves with too much pride to not be weary."

Itame was still learning so many things about his fiancee, but one thing he caught onto easily and quickly was her tell. She was nervous, or anxious about something she wasn't sharing with him. He didn't like to push her, but he didn't want her to keep her worries to herself. Her burdens were his to share.

"Hey, can we work with them? What else is there to their story. They're scaring you."

"I'm wise to be scared of such men. They consumed the flesh of a beast god and gained god like powers. Wouldn't that frighten you?"

Itame thought of Sakura, for all how power, his soft and kind she was. There was no way that these guys were feared as gods when Sakura herself claimed to be so much less than a kami.

"Do you know what they want?" Itame asked while packing up the rest of his rice balls. There were grains stuck to his thumb that he scraped off with his teeth.

"What does anyone want? Land, power, respect, fear? They are not so original in that regard." Mito closed her eyes and leaned into the wind, letting it dance with the few stray strands of hair. "They are not friendly. Do not trust them."

"I wouldn't."

Itame stood and offered his hand to the Uzamaki princess. She took the hand and he lifted her to his side before picking her up and shadow stepping the pair of them down to the ground. A few stray leaves drifted around them, unsettled by their movement.

The pair made their way through the Senju settlement that was made out of mostly homes now, but still a few tents persisted, as if the clan members didn't believe they could take root anywhere as long as there was still killing for work. Recently they had taken a job that ran them parallel to the Hyuga clan's work and it nearly turned nasty. No one had died, but it did come to blows and a few Senju were still recovering. Itame had seen to each personally and knew that they were lucky to come away with so little loss. They had been less fortunate with other encounters and other clans.

It was one of the reasons why the union with the Uzamaki clan was so important. The jobs they took for money put them at odds with other ninja clans. Their source of income put they in a position of enmity to others. Hashirama was keen on the idea of moving the bulk of their business away from such bloody ninja work. He wanted to establish business in the clan and explore new venues that wouldn't make them targets in a blood feud that lasted generations.

The Uzamaki were the purse strings holding him back.

"Oi, where have you both been? Hashirama nii has been asking for us," Kawarama cut in, suddenly beside the pair.

Mito didn't jump or react, but Itame flinched and turned sharply on his heel.

"Stop acting like a show off. I got it already. We were just on our way. You don't need to remind us like we're children."

"You're both only fifteen," muttered Kawarama, stuffing his hands into his pockets and shuffling off.

"And you're just fourteen, you brat," Itame bit back, going red when he realized that Mito was watching him keenly. "Ah, he didn't mean anything by it, Kawarama is just being a brat. "

"Sixteen is young for a couple to marry, isn't it," Mito said, walking beside him with a face that betrayed nothing. She was perfectly poised, just like a princess.

"Yeah, well not for a girl. I guess I'll be the weird one, but that's fine. People can talk all they want, I don't care."

"You don't care you didn't have a choice to grow up a little more and look for someone else?" Mito asked, looking off in a different direction.

Itame missed a step. "Eh? You think I would want that?"

"Even in our conservative age, I understand what I asked for with this union was unconventional. Even my father was surprised I insisted on someone other than the heir and current acting clan head. You're young, I'm young. Things could change when you're older."

"Is that what you're scared of?"

"It's not shameful to admit to it," Mito said, turning back to face him. "Maybe I am."

It made butterflies rustle in his heart cavity. He had never had anyone get jealous for him or worry about his love for them. He had never had anyone care about him so much. He was a bit overwhelmed with the rush of emotions he was growing into with Mito. He was scared of what she made him feel.

"I think I understand you. I was and still am worried about how I look when I stand alongside my brothers. Both Hashirama and even Kawarama have the legendary wood release skill, Tobirama is as fast and deadly with a blade as they come. They're all so much more mature than I am, they look cool no matter what they're doing, and are all super manly. I sometimes don't feel like I should be standing alongside them all, and I'm still baffled you would care about someone like me when you had such options. You're a princess. What am I?"

Mito watched him with eyes that went from wide to soft in equally soft moments. "You are kind and good and the one my heart is drawn towards," she whispered, touching the outside of his wrist and then the back of his hand as they continued to walk side by side towards the center of the camp.

"And you don't have a reason to worry. Just," he tugged on her hand, pulling her closer to his side as they walked, "stay beside me."

Inside the main meeting house, the elders were already seated with Hashirama at one end and the visitors clustered around the opposite end of the table. In addition to the Gold and Silver brothers, Mito's father and the acting head of the Uzamaki clan was there along with several other highly skilled Uzamaki warriors.

Spaces were left open at his side for Mito and her husband to be, but she chose to sit closer to the Senju side of the table so that Itame was next to his brothers. She kept her chin up the whole time, even as her father watched her critically and paid extra attention to the hand she still held onto. It made Itame swell with pride and something else, something soft and warm.

"Brothers, you have been making quite a name for yourself. You are both quite robust for this day and age. It is astonishing to see," Hashirama greeted, expression cheerful and voice jovial. It was still a strong voice, though.

Beside the two brothers, Ginkaku and Kinkaku, there were four other nondescript ninja hailing from the land of lightning and looking little better than the average criminal one would find alongside the highways and roadways. None of their party members looks half as threatening as the brothers with their long hair and burly physiques.

Kinkaku, the golden brother with golden hair and a slightly taller frame, leaned forward to speak. "There is nothing wrong with being robust in a day and age that's slipping into mediocrity. If chakra users don't push themselves harder than before, they'll always be under the heel of another."

"I heard that a member of the Land of Lightning you are affiliated with is establishing a branch of unity among the chakra clans. His name was A, wasn't it?" Hashirama asked, voice still pleasant and kind.

"He'll try. He's no mind for it," Ginkaku said, butting into the conversation with a scowl. His older brother glanced back at him, but there was no rebuke.

"Maybe he just needs to see it done to believe it is possible," Mito's father offered up, keeping his arms crossed and eyes unfixed to appear as outside the conversation as possible.

"Hmph, maybe," Kinaku the golden brother said before turning his eyes onto Hashirama again. "But that hasn't a thing to do with me or why I am here. I'm not a fan of beating around the bush. I'm not going to waste your time and I don't want you to waste mine. The Uzamaki have helped me with a problem, but it's not finished."

"A….problem you say. What is the nature of your problem?"

Hashirama asked, sounding interested instead of unsure, but those who knew him knew better. Hashirama wanted to be helpful 100% of the time and was always willing to lend a hand when others asked, but there were always things that made him uncomfortable to do. Hashirama didn't know what would be asked of him, but he was uncomfortable with it and Tobirama shifted forward a fraction of an inch.

"Either you or the younger Senju," Ginkaku grunted. "Both of you can make trees move and do stuff?"

Kawarama stiffened minutely. His wood release prowess was nowhere near the level of his elder brothers, having only been awakened four years ago after Sakura's departure. Later on it was theorized that when Sakura saved him from death and brought him back to life in her tree, she bequeathed him a gift or awakened some latent gift that already lay dormant. Her departure triggered its awakening and it had been a thing that knit the eldest and youngest Senju together during a time of what they both considered grief.

Very few knew that Kawarama could preform wood release, as the brothers agreed it was best to keep it a secret for as long as possible, but such a secret was not safe for long after Kawarama was forced to use it on the battlefield. In addition to his wood release, the youngest Senju excelling in his own sort of natural healing, and seemed to recover from injuries in no time at all, just like his eldest brother.

It wasn't unusual, but it was still unsettling to hear other ninja from so far away talk about the youngest Senju like he was a hot rumor fresh off the mill.

"I am the proficient one in wood release, but that is common knowledge," Hashirama said, leaning in and taking all the attention onto himself. "The building we sit in was crafted by me."

"That's nice, but beside the point," Gunkaku the younger huffed, sounding rougher than his brother.

Kinkaku placed one hand down on the table, rapping it with the back of his knuckles. "It's impressive enough to sell, which might explain why we're seeing less and less of you on the field taking jobs."

Hashirama's smile stayed in place.

"But my younger brother has a point, it is not what we came her to discuss with you. We have a problem that you are uniquely qualified to help with. We are willing to pay you for it to."

The Senju boys spared looks for each other, each having their own set of questions they wanted to voice, but it was Hashirama who was their leader and the one who spoke for them. "What is your problem?"

Kikaku the golden brother leaned back in his seat, crossing his burly arms. "We have a chip on our shoulder about a beast god that swallowed us up and spat us out, only to learn he was swallowed up by someone else and then sealed away by those damn Hyuga and their religious zealots. They were easy enough to deal with and the Uzamaki have been paid to un-work the fuujutsu with their own sealing arts, but there is one last obstacle that keeps us from getting to the creature who ate our fox."

"You mean the nine tailed demon fox," Itame breathed, unable to hold his voice back. The gold and silver brothers both glared over at him and Itame froze, unwilling to shrink and unable to hold his head much higher.

"The beast god is one of the nine most feared creatures we know of. They devastated our neighbors when someone last attempted to leash them," Mito's father interjected. "Tampering with them would be unwise."

"Yet you were paid for the aid you readily provided," the younger silver brother bit out, looking nasty.

"A fact we are grateful for," the older golden brother interjected, sending his younger brother a look.

"Warnings aside, what are my services necessary for? I am only minimally talented when it comes to seals. My brother is the expert," Hashirama said, gesturing to Tobirama.

"The seals aren't a problem anymore. The creature is a white thing, humanoid and well defended. It grew a tree around itself when it weakened and we've been unable to get close to it since. We were forced to seal it away least it do us further damage."

"A tree…?" Hashirama couldn't help but glance sideways at his younger brother and see that Kawarama was looking at him too, eyes wide and intensely focused. "What sort of tree was it?"

"A tree, what difference does that make. It was made out of wood and had branches and leaves. They all look the same. It was a tree," the younger silver haired brother said.

"Was it sentient. Did the tree move like a living thing?" Hashirama asked.

"It attacked my men. Anyone that got close was trapped by the roots and their life was sucked out of them, turning them into white skinned creatures that the tree devoured," The Golden brother said.

Hashirama felt his hands shake under the table, but kept them fisted to hide the reaction. "You said this figure fought with you before growing a tree around itself. What did it look like? Was it a man or woman?"

"It didn't look like either. It looked like one of the white things my men turned into. It had a head shape, white arm shapes, and two leg shapes, but no face, no butt, no tits, no hands even. It was just a glob of a figure."

"I see," Hashirama said, nodding slowly in a mask of calm. "You said you sealed it away. How?"

The younger brother bristled, looking angry, but his elder brother pulled out something that had been hanging on his hip behind him. It was larger than anyone first realized, as it stood as tall as his torso and was just as wide, if not wider. It looked like any old clay pot hung with a thick white rope. Once turned around the seal on the front was visable and half the room went stiff at the sight of it.

"That is…."

"This is the Kohaku no Jōhei or Amber Purifying Pot, one of the treasured tools passed down to us, capable of sealing anything that responds to our taunts inside of it with no hope of escape. I can drag that creature out again, but it'll just be a huge tree again. I'd rather not do that until I had a tree wielder on my side who could keep the freak from fighting back," the elder brother explained, voice tinted with pride as he displayed one of the I've treasured tools passed on by the Sage of Six Paths, the man who crafted chakra wielding into an art. "It's frustrating, because I know that damn fox is in here, but I can't get to it until I get past that tree and the white blob."

"What are you going to do to that white blob?" Hashirama asked.

"Whatever needs doing. Likely have to cut it up or use the Shichiseiken: Seven Star Sword to separate the fox from it. Regardless, our aim is the nine tailed fox it ate. That thing is our game to hunt."

There was an awful sort of awkward silence while Hashirama stared down the table at the amber pot. For a while silence persisted while the brothers waited to see how Hashirama would respond.

"I am not sure what sort of aid I would be, though I think you are right to consider me in regards to this particular circumstance." He leaned back, keeping his hands still under the table. "I will confirm with the rest of my brothers and our elders what we believe is best for the clan and get back to you on this. How long will you be willing to give us?"

The younger brother glared and bit back a comment while his elder brother reached for the amber pot. "I think a day is fine, but we would like your answer as soon as possible. We are staying in your camp, so you'll know where to find us when need be."

The older brother nodded to his younger brother and the pair stood up. He reached for the amber pot, dragging it back and latching it onto his belt with a grin, noticing how several in the room watched it with looks of envy. It was a valuable treasure to be sure, but that wasn't what made the brothers lean towards it like a gravitational pull.

Once the Gold and Silver brothers were out of the room, Mito's father excused himself and insisted his daughter join him and their elders for the rest of the day. One by one the rest of the Senju elders trickled out, sparing their opinions before leaving. Soon it was just the four brothers left alone. Tobirama took it upon himself to seal the room once more so that their voices would not carry or be overheard.

"You think that was her?" Itame asked in a whisper.

"Who else could it be?" Tobirama answered, sitting back down at the table before turning to his elder brother. "We can't let them leave with that pot."

"The pot is not the issue, it's what is inside I want," Hashirama said.

" _We_  want," Kawarama stressed, leaning forward with a look like steel in his eyes. For a moment it was almost as if he were a younger, more colored Tobirama. "She's in there, I could tell. I could feel it."

"There were no chakra signatures leaking out. I know you are hopeful but-"

"It wasn't chakra," he snapped, interrupting Tobirama. "I could feel her, not her chakra. No, you wouldn't understand, but it was her in there."

Itame crossed his arms and leaned back. "I don't think they would be willing to part with her if she really did take in the nine tailed fox like they said she did."

"Do you believe that?" Tobirama asked, turning towards his elder brother.

"I wouldn't believe it of anyone else. Sakura swallowed her own god years before, she told me once," Kawarama admitted. "And it would make sense why she hasn't come back if she is stuck in that damn pot. Who knows how time works in there."

"One thing is agreed, we can't let them leave with that pot," Hashirama offered up, voice softer than before as he looked down at the grains of wood in the table. "Even if she is not in there, we owe it to her to see for ourselves and try."

Tobirama frowned, raising a single hand, palm up. "That is not agreed upon-"

"If you don't agree to it I will," Kawarama warned, standing up. His fists shook atop the wood table.

The second eldest Senju brother looked up at the youngest and stared without speaking until Hashirama broke in and told Kawarama to sit back down and calm himself.

"There is no need for you to be so concerned. I will not let this opportunity pass by, but we will not be senseless about it. The brothers are dangerous and I think Sakura would be disappointed if we turned the fox over to them. We have to be smart about this."

"We need allies," Itame muttered, forgetting that there were others in the world aside from Mito and her clan they could reach out to.

Hashirama went stiff and an idea came into his eyes. "Yes. Allies."

* * *

"You're putting us both in a terrible position if ever this was discovered," Madara growled, lowering himself down into the ravine pocket that was obscured from all other angles.

It was a perfect place to hide away and conduct secret meetings. Hashirama had already sealed off the area for privacy and no one would be able to hear what went on in their meeting spot.

"And why am I a part of this," Izuna cooly inquiry, lowering himself with a touch more grace, expression a mask of cool indifference. Those who knew the younger Uchiha could tell he was still perturbed by the whole situation, however.

"I'm sorry for putting you both out, but it was urgent and I knew you two deserved to know," Hashirama said, glancing between the two brothers.

He was alone with all the other Senju left behind. Tobirama knew about the meetings with Madara but disapproved of them almost as much as Izuna. Still, there was something different about their relationship that was directly tied to their shared time in the gardens and their connection to Sakura. The Uchiha and the Senju were still not friendly, but they had started to go out of their way to avoid each other and the bloodshed that might come from such a meeting.

"How is it so important that we're meeting on such short notice, and why both of us?" Madara demanded. "It wasn't easy sneaking the both of us out. The elders are like hawks. They have nothing better to do in their old age."

Hashirama felt like a rambling mess and didn't doubt he sounded like one as he spilled to the two Uchiha brothers. "There was a meeting today, between our clan and the Gold and Silver Brothers. They wanted our help getting to the nine tailed fox, which they said was swallowed by a white blob figure and sealed inside a pot."

Izuna looked uttering unimpressed. " _Fascinating_."

"No-no, listen, it was the blob thing that swallowed the demon fox and they said something about seals, but they came to us because it grew a tree around itself for protection."

"And?" Madara prompted, sounding almost as tired as his brother.

Hashirama waved his arms, unable to form the words. "It grew a tree around itself. How many people do you know who could do that? It wasn't any of us Senju, who else could it have been?"

Izuna went still and even in the dim of night his skin turned a etherial shade of white while his eyes spun red.

"Sakura," Madara whispered, looking off to the side as his thoughts took off. "You think it was her inside the tree?"

"I'm almost sure of it. And it would explain why she's been gone all these years. You know she felt responsible for the god beasts, remember. She spoke once before about having to deal with them one day. What if she went after the nine tailed fox and really did deal with it just as she planned, only to be swallowed up by the Gold and Silver brothers?"

"Explain this," Izuna cut in, taking a step forward. "How could she have been so easily subdued by men?"

"The brothers have these items from the *Sage of Six Paths, and one of them is a very powerful sealing jar they used to trap her inside once they realized they were not a match for her, only they didn't know it was Sakura, just a white, human formed creature. And if she fought with the fox beforehand, she was likely tired from the ordeal. They came to me to ask me to combat the tree." Hashirama felt breathless. "It makes sense."

"It's why she couldn't come back to us," Madara offered, turning to watch his brother for any sort of reaction, fearing how the younger boy might take it. Izuna was barely seventeen and too poised to not have some wildness inside him somewhere, saved up and stored up for such a time as this. "It wasn't our fault," he added in a softer voice, touching Izuna's shoulder.

"They want an answer as to what I will do by tomorrow. I plan on agreeing to their request, but I won't be able to sit by and watch them tear her open in their efforts to get to the nine tailed fox. And normally I wouldn't be afraid for Sakura, but these brothers have consumed gods of their own. I think they could stand on equal footing with her if she comes out tired and disoriented."

"What are you going to do?" Madara asked, hand still on his brother's shoulder.

"I was hoping I could ask you for help in this."

Izuna looked up, eyes spinning back to black. "How?"

Hashirama deflated a bit. "I don't know, but I'm sure we could think of something."

"We have received inquiries for the heads of both brothers," Izuna stated, lifting his chin and turning to look up at Madara. "The Land of Lightning fears their anarchist views and the lord of that land wants them snuffed out. It would pay handsomely."

"Our people would die in the fight. We had previously discussed this and come to the conclusion it was not worth it," said Madara, knowing good and well that the situation was now completely different. Nothing would matter as long as it was in order to get to Sakura.

"We wouldn't have to risk the whole clan. You and I would be more than enough to take on a pair of piss ant brothers that look like dogs."

Something was different about Izuna's tone. He wasn't concerned with being princely anymore. Madara doubted he even cared.

"And it wouldn't be just you two. My brothers and I would be dedicated to her retrieval as well. They travel with four other retainers, none of them noteworthy."

"They're proud, they don't think they need more than that," Madara muttered.

"They won't live to regret it, then," added Izuna. His chest heaved with a shuddering breath as he folded his arms. "I won't allow it."

" _We_  won't allow it," Madara corrected.

"Then…we will be working together. The Senju and the Uchiha have something they can unite for." Hashirama couldn't help but smile. "It's almost like that dream we had when we were children."

Madara grinned back. "Almost."

* * *

That night there was plenty of sleep to be had, but Izuna went into the armory and collected his best suit to the stand in his room and took care of the polish and maticance that took it from impressive to immaculate. Little by little he worked on the various braids that would keep his various katana artfully strapped to his side so they did not tangle but hung with regal care.

He almost returned to bed after that, but paused in front of the mirror. A pale Uchiha with high cheekbones and unscarred skin. A perfect prince.

His eyes were black as any other, but with a little push his pupils bled to a brilliant red, spinning with the gift she gave him that night four years ago. He was proud of his Mangekyō Sharingan, it wasn't like Madara's, but had a unique design not unlike a flowers when the tones connected. It was one of the most powerful sharingan the Uchiha clan had ever seen, arguably more powerful than even Madara's, though it was clear his elder brother excelled in the taijutsu and ninjutsu areas. Izuna's strengths were more on the genjutsu side, something Sakura recognized even before their Mangekyō Sharingan developed.

 _"It's why she couldn't come back to us," Madara offered, turning to watch his brother for any sort of reaction, fearing how the younger boy might take it. "It wasn't our fault," he added in a softer voice, touching Izuna's shoulder_.

"I would have traded these eyes if I knew," Izuna hissed to his reflection, hating it. The chakra around him made his hair stand up on end. "I would have traded…anything if I knew, if I could have that day back to relive again and do differently. I would have given  _anything_ …"

He slumped forward in front of the mirror, knocking over jars of cream and oil. He felt his body shake but buried his face so the tears stayed hidden.

'Anything.'

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for all the feedback and positive attention. I really like this next section where the boys get their own development time. I'm curious who you like the best and are looking forward to seeing grown up. :)
> 
> Ages after the time skip
> 
> Hashirama and Madara 17.5  
> Izuna and Tobirama 16  
> Itame 15  
> Kawarama 14
> 
> *Also, I understand that the sealing jar/Kohaku no Jōhei/Amber Purifying Pot from the Sage of Six Paths isn't strong enough to hold a cannon Kaguya, but in this verse Sakura/Kaguya is a little different.


	19. Chapter 19

* * *

Madara remembered back to one of his favorite memories, one with Sakura, one he often revisited when he wanted to feel centered. 

It was perfect because there were no Senju around for the entire weekend. The family had a good will mission with another clan they were already buddy-buddy with and each of the boys had left dressed up and postured like cattle for market.

'Look at my fine sons, wouldn't your daughters like to marry one of these fine lads?'

Madara snickered, feeling bad for his friend, but only slightly. He knew that nothing would come of it until they grew up a big more and made names for themselves that spoke louder than their clan titles. And that was a good thing because Hashirama had a bad case of first boy crush on their teacher, likely due to the fact that she was the only one who understood his most intimate jutsu and was really the only girl he talked to a length.

'Well, whatever.'

Like Madara, Hashirama would probably be wed in an arranged marriage to help tie clans together. If they were lucky they would inherit their clan titles before that happens and have more good standing to pick and choose. Fathers often weren't the most understanding of such things.

There was a sound somewhere in the house and Madara froze like a deer in the meadow, listening. If Izuna heard him getting ready to go out he would try to sneak out as well. They weren't supposed to leave when their father was scouting out the land before a new contract, something about preserving the last two heirs.

Madara moved to the doorway and listened, calming his breath until he was almost a part of the silence.

Nothing.

Madara hid his gear inside the folds of his robes, not wanting to dress too aggressively for when he walked into the garden of peace and sought out their angel of mercy...who also was apparently an ogre of strength he never knew about.

Something slipped out of his hand and Madara had to kick the knife's sheath back up to keep it from making noise. He caught it in one hand and then had to brace, as his hands shook from something he didn't understand. He was….excited, or scared?

A day ago he had heard one of the patients talking to Sakura about a mountain pass they had been trying to navigate in order to get to her, but along the way his wife died because it took so long to get around the natural obstacles. It had distressed her greatly and that evening she planned a route to his village and started to destroy the mountain.

The memory made him shake.

He knew she could be fearsome. She was like a god on the battlefield with wild hair, teeth, and horns, but she hadn't been like that when she leveled the mountains. She was just as beautiful and calm as the medic he knew her as before she reached back and made rubble! There was no sign, no warning, no building up of chakra or energy he could feel. She either had perfect chakra control for something like that, or she was just naturally that strong all the time and hid it. He wasn't sure, but he knew enough to know he wanted to see more.

He snuck out for the garden first, making sure to check and see his brother wasn't tailing him, and then headed for the blast zone.

When he got there he stayed hidden, just like yesterday. Today she was dressed with the sleeves to her robes tied up under her arms and the hems folded up into her belt, showing off a scandalous amount of leg, almost all the way to her knee!

He swallowed and tried to remember she thought she was alone. It was fine for her. Plus, it's not like he was a kid anymore, he was already thirteen. He had seen lady legs before...somewhere. He knew what they looked like.

His thoughts ran dry as Sakura reached for a bolder the size of two ox, and lifted it over her head. She just carried it there, arms straight up, looking around for a place to toss it. She found one and threw it leagues until it hit dirt and split down the center. She didn't look back a second time, but proceeded to do the same with other chunks of stone like they were nothing. She moved them like bread crumbs even thought they were all bigger than her, and she was small and tiny.

Madara leaned down onto the branch he had been crouching on, folding his hands and resting his chin over his knuckles. He felt his whole body exhale with the next sigh. In this moment, with no one to see him and no one to hear him, he was willing to admit secret things to himself-things he would deny to his dying day any other time of his life.

Hashirama wasn't a fool to have affections for the pretty pink haired doctor. She was cute, yeah, but she was really amazing in lots of other ways too. It was going to be hard to settle for anyone else when it came time for them to get married. Why couldn't other girls be as amazing and kind and pretty and smart and funny as Sakura?

Ah, but Sakura probably deserved someone as amazing as her, which explained why she was still single. It made sense. Their fathers were great guys, but Sakura could do better.

The rubble was cleared and Sakura approached the next chunk of stone cliff, touching it once and getting a feel for it under her palm. Madara watched her from the tree overhead, shifting out a bit further to see better. Something gripped his heart and he held his breath as she reeled back and punched.

It was a god punch.

The whole earth rumbled as so much of it was reduced to rubble. Huge chunks of stone fell in slabs larger than houses and Sakura screamed again, punching several more times until those slaves were halved and halved and halved again. They were little more than human sized chunks now.

Sakura arched her heel up, Making Madara gasp and glance away lest he see more than just her knee, and brought it down with even more force, scattering the chunks to the sides to make a decent road. The aftershock rumbled through the valley and Madara felt his tree shake. He hadn't been paying attention, he had been embarrassed with looking away from her legs or something like that, and he ended up tumbling from the tree like some stupid five year old that didn't know how to tree walk.

Even in his descent he kept his mouth shut, hoping she wouldn't notice him until he landed in a dozen different bloody pieces. If she found him he would die of embarrassment and never be able to-

"Got you!" Sakura breathed, sounding close to out of breath as her arms wrapped around him.

Madara went red in the face, covering his head with his hands so she couldn't see his terrible blush.

'Death kami, take me now.'

She landed and set him down and Madara started to drag his hands down over his face, peeking up over the tops of his fingers at her face. She was smiling down, eyes lit with understanding.

"I should have known better to think I could be sneaky enough for you all." She leaned back on her heels and fit her hands over her hips. "You been there long?"

"Not long," he muttered into his hands, staring down at the rubble under them.

Sakura groaned. "That's...fine. I guess that's fine. You are within your rights, this is outside the garden, after all. Sorry if I scared you."

"Scared me?" He dropped his hands. "WHy would you say that?"

"It was sorta unexpected, wasn't it?"

"N-not really. You do lots of amazing things."

"Yeah, when I'm all wild faced and angry." She bent down to be at his level and her bare knee touched the gravel. "Sorry if I caught you up in the mess."

He didn't respond right away, but nodded slowly. "You shouldn't have to apologize. I'm sorry for sneaking out and spying on you."

Sakura laughed and reached up to ruffle his hair, making it more wild than it already was. He protested, reaching for her hand to stop her, but became powerless when it came to contact with her hand. "My hair is supposed to be neat!"

She pouted. "I like your hair the way it is. You look cute with a little wild side, neh?"

"My brother is not like that."

Sakura pulled her hand away, looking confused. "Hun, you're not your brother. Madara is Madara and Izuna is Izuna. Those are two different things."

He refused to blush, but he felt his skin heat. "Whatever!' he huffed loudly and made of show of crossing his arms and looking away. It made her laugh and he felt unsettled all inside. Whatever, whatever, whatever. It didn't matter, this was fine.

"What to help me clear out the canyon a little?"

He glanced back over at her, watching her rise up off her knees. "Yeah, fine. I guess you could use the help and I've got nothing better to do anyway."

When Madara opened his eyes again he was back on his porch. It was night and he wasn't a boy anymore, but soon Sakura would be back. He could feel it.

* * *

"Do it again."

Kurama tried his best to growl without lifting his lips before turning his massive head off to the side away from where she sat on the stone floor. Sakura pouted and got up off her heels to follow him around until she was directly in his line of sight again. His eyes narrowed but he refused to move again.

"Come on, I said they were cool, didn't I?" Sakura whined, finishing with a childish pout.

She felt thirteen again and maybe it had something to do with the fact that she was separated from the rabbit goddess and even Inner Sakura. Inner was off somewhere else and Kaguya was in charge of Sakura's physical body while they were trapped. She mentioned something about time passing too slowly for Sakura to stay sane and Sakura let the goddess take control, knowing there was no harm to be done as long as they were swallowed by the voice of a heavenly item. Sakura didn't doubt that Kaguya would be able to get them out in no time. A few days was nothing worth worrying about.

"My teeth aren't for show," the nine tailed fox growled. Before Sakura could move he lunged and snapped his jaw down on her body, teeth tearing through her.

"Oh, that looks like it would hurt," Sakura said, staring down at the blood gushing out of her severed abdomen. It was in a dream, after all.

When he growled his teeth vibrated and Sakura felt a tickle shake her. She had learned after years in Kaguya's sleep, how to block out the pain of being eaten alive while still retaining sensations.

Sakura reached up and touched the edge of his lip, where fur started to grow in healthy orange hues. He flinched at the touch, having taken care to avoid contact until this moment. He shook his head and opened his mouth on the upswing of a shake, sending Sakura flying. She rightened herself in mid air and by the time her toes touched down her body was already mostly healed. Seconds later and she was as good as new.

"You are infuriating. It is hell to be stuck here with you," he growled, projecting his voice without snapping his wide jaws.

"It's only so bad because you're making it like that," Sakura said.

"No, you really are that annoying."

Sakura felt her cheeks inflate with a pout. "I've been called that too many times to take it seriously. You know the only people that call others annoying are the annoying ones themselves! You know how lame it is when a person can't take a joke and brings the mood down like a lead balloon at a party?"

"What are you, twelve?"

"I'm much older than that, but thanks for the complement," Sakura cheered.

"It wasn't a complement, kid."

"You said I looked young, didn't you?" Sakura brushed some of the blood off her shirt before wringing the cloth out. Red leaked out from the twists and stained her hands with its color.

"What do you want?" the oversized fox asked in a rumble that shook the whole mindscape and made the stone around them shiver.

"I want us to be friends. Kaguya said that it would be useless to try and win you over, but I disagreed. She wanted to just seal you away back in the stone tablets on the wall inside that cave, the one with the demon sealing statue. I think that might not be the best for you if you're already awake."

"That woman…where did she come from? The rabbit goddess should be dead, the woman from the other world died many years ago."

Sakura paused, blinking up at the fox. This was the first time he seemed interested in their conversation. "Ah, yeah, she did mention something about coming to this world because the version of her that was here, a sister she called it, had died. She never mentioned how or why, and I'm not sure she even knows that. But we came from a different world, a different stream of time."

The giant head rounded on her, suddenly in front of her once more, teeth bared and gleaming with a smattering of bloodstains still clinging to the edges. "Ah, you know me from that world then. You're a fool to think we are the same."

"In my world, you're there, and you're sealed inside one of my best friends."

"Another slave story, how boring."

"Now I'm really beating myself up for not hearing more about it from him, because that's exactly the opposite of how the story went. Somehow that blond knucklehead managed to make friends with you and there wasn't a need for seals or anything. You would talk to each other and share chakra all the time."

The face loomed closer, seeming to inflate with the proximity. "I don't believe you."

"Believe it!"

Sakura cheered before dissolving into a fit of giggles for how much she sounded like Naruto. It was even in his high pitch that was annoying from a close range. She sounded just like him, probably smiled like him too. Naruto would tease her if he were here to see it. He'd probably lose it, point at her angrily and complain about that being his catchphrase or something like that while Kakashi sighed and read from his book and Sai would make a comment about….about…

Sakura braced herself on the floor, palms smacking stones as her body heaved and shook with the impact. She had been so high and bubbly with cheer a moment ago, but there were tears pouring out of her and the shaking wouldn't stop. She wanted to laugh, she felt like laughing, she had just been laughing, so why wasn't she laughing?

'It's been years!' she mentally berated herself.

She felt something brush up against her side but she didn't look up. "Oi, are you finally going to choke and die on me?"

The side of his face swung and knocked her over onto her side, sending her into a roll across the floor. Sakura was quick to cover her face with her hands and rub at her eyes, smearing the tear stains. When she moved the heels of her palms away his face was hanging over her, turned enough that one huge, glowing eye, was directly above her.

"Your name is Kurama."

At her words the head reeled back and his teeth were back to glaring. "Not true! Who told you that?"

"Naruto."

Her voice sounded so much softer and less full. Her words were empty shells of what they would have been in Naruto's mouth. She had been too bubbly for too long and she felt old for it now.

"He uncovered a secret scroll somewhere, something with our names…"

"No, you told it to him."

The eye was back and looming, lashes close enough to tickle her. "I would never tell a human my name, especially not one that bound me and sealed me like a slave."

"Naruto didn't. I remember that. He swung open the doors of your cage and won you over with love. You were free and you chose him, chose to stay with him."

"I don't believe you."

Naruto's voice was in her mind and she heard him, saw him too. Naruto turned to her with a thumb up and grinned so wide it looked like it might break his face. 'Believe it!'

"I'm not Naruto. I can't make you believe anything. I'm just me. Kaguya isn't here either, I can't force you to do anything with a binding seal or anything like that. I'm not Sasuke or Kakashi, so I can't defeat you, I can't beat you in a fight. I'm not even Sai who could have gotten out of this situation on his own like a shadow in the dark. I'm just me. Sorry if that's not good enough for you."

The nine tailed fox reeled back and barked a laugh. "As if I had anything to fear from a human? I might be sealed in here thanks to that kami woman, but don't think even she cold erase my existence. I am unending power!"

"You're pure chakra, enough chakra for a planet's population, or at least 1/10 of it. I know the story."

Kaguya had shown her what had happened in both worlds. The story was so similar. A tree seeded from a god seed bore fruit that Kaguya consumed and the result was chakra. From the other fruit came into the world the tailed beasts. Consuming any one of them would have resulted in just as much chakra.

"Yes, yes, a mindless beast with no mind of it's own, eh? You know how I came to be and so you know I'm a monster, eh? Too dangerous to be allowed to walk free on the earth." The tails behind him swirled in agitation, swinging and swishing.

"Obviously that's not the case, otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation right now," Sakura grumbled pushing herself up onto her elbows. "You're no more dangerous than me, and if you were mindless I wouldn't be here."

Kurama barked and snapped at her again, catching her legs in his teeth and flinging her far before turning and running as far as he could.

Sakura didn't chase him.

She couldn't keep track of time. Was it hours or days? Sakura felt like time had to have passed, even though she didn't age, her hair and nails didn't grow, and there was no sky to tell the time from. But time passed.

She and Kurama had many conversations. Often they would end with the nine tailed fox growing agitated enough to attack her and then run off like a child, but eventually he eased out of that habit and would start to use his words to 'excuse himself' when he wanted to be alone.

After some time Sakura stopped chasing after him and would wait on the ruins of the old stone temple they were trapped in. He would come to her, find her in a new spot and settle down alongside her. Sometimes he spoke, most times he didn't.

"How did you get mixed up in that person. You're nothing special."

Sakura looked up at the fox that had laid down to rest his head on his paws alongside her. His eyes were drooping and he looked ready to sleep. When he was tired he turned talkative.

"I ate her after my friends sealed her away."

He opened the eye closest to her and tilted his head in her direction. It was as good of an invitation as she would ever get when he was this tired.

"She was out enemy. She almost took over the world, but my teammates, Naruto and Sasuke were able to seal her at the last minute using all their strength. They couldn't kill her, however, and both ended up dying. My whole team, actually, died in that fight." Sakura took a shuddering breath, realizing it was getting easier to talk about it. "But we won the war so it was fine. People needed something to celebrate, even though a few of us knew that Kaguya's sealing wouldn't last forever."

"Humans," Kurama snorted, eyes closing again.

"I don't blame them," Sakura admitted, surprising herself. "They lost loved ones too. Ino lost her dad, and that was…no, there were a lot of losses and everyone hurt from something. They desperately needed something to help them begin to heal. Those loses could not be in vain."

"Humans are weak."

Sakura closed her eyes. "We are. But we try our best."

The fox huffed, readjusting himself. "It's baffling."

"I was the weakest of my teammates and I was the only one that survived. I wasn't a part of the final confrontation and I missed out on their last moments. Later I went to where they sealed her inside a tree and ripped it open. It would kill me, but I wanted to hurt her, even if it didn't amount to much."

When she looked up she saw that Kurama was watching her, a little more awake than before. He was listening.

"Yeah, well, you can guess how well that went. I don't know why, but instead of letting the acid eat me alive she took me into this world, into this old time on the other side of the rivers of world or whatever she called it. This isn't my history, or the past of my world, by a different world altogether, one where her version was killed."

"Yes, that's right, we ate the moon princess up and scared the rest of her clan away, I remember it," Kurama muttered, glancing away before licking his long fangs. "There were only three of us who managed to get away after that. All the others got sucked back and sealed into those tiles."

"In my history, or the history of my world you were all freed by Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki and set loose on the lands after he sealed his mother away."

"I don't want to hear about my history in your world. You were talking about you, not me," the nine tailed fox barked, eyes flashing. He readjusted his paws and crawled closer to the edge of the ruin steps where Sakura sat. "Don't get distracted. What did that woman want with you?"

"I don't know. I didn't know why she brought me here, either. I've been trying to block her out as much as possible and keep her from taking over my body, like she has at times. I don't think she…I don't think she's strong enough to control me completely, but she's not contested me for control like I feared she would. When I need her she…helps me. Because of her I'm powerful and feared and looked at like a god. She seems to enjoy that."

"She's a tricky bitch."

Sakura laughed and Kurama huffed, fur settling from the usual rustle. "Yeah, I guess she is. She didn't think I could do any good with you, either. She's always on this 'fear and blood' is the only thing gods are good for kick and it' annoying. She's super doom and gloom. She's worried about something too."

"There will always be war and fear and blood. She need not invite it."

"Yeah, well she was really shitty to the Hyuga and they're dicks so not like I care, but she got freaked out about some of the things they said and did. She told me I would need Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha to help stop….I don't know what it was, but to stop a great and terrible 'it,' whatever it is."

"Who are these men?"

"They're not men yet, they're boys. There were kids I was helping to raise. I didn't want her getting near them because they were so young. I know they'll be important and strong men one day, but for now they're just kids…."

"You can see the streams of possibility?"

He asked her and Sakura touched her seal. The seal split apart and her third eye blinked open, red and brilliant. Kurama hissed at the spinning tomes. Sakura slid her hands back across the stone until she was laying down with her back on the surface. She closed her eyes, inhaled, and then shut her third eye.

"You have her abilities then."

"Some of them," Sakura admitted. "I have learned a few of them and others are ones she has to take over to use. I've gotten pretty good a kenjutsu." She waved her hand and bone sword grew out of her wrist. "But that's pretty much it."

"We'll see."

Sakura rolled over and propped herself up on one elbow. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It's boring in this place with nothing to do," he yawned. "I need some entertainment."

Then he was asleep.

Sakura later learned what he meant by 'entertainment' was to create a few dozen shadow and fire clones that would test Sakura's skill with the sword. That was fun for only one person. But then it would get really interesting when he would swoop down like a giant force of nature and Sakura had to fight him back in his monster sized form with just her sword. None of their wounds lasted very long, but Sakura did feel like her instincts developed somewhat.

Sakura didn't know how long they stayed in their world like that.

She engaged Kurama less and less, going off to wander the ruins on her own and lay down for an unnumbered time span. He turned it into a game of hide and seek where he could chew on her a little bit if he got to find her. Sometimes she would react and try to get away first, but other times she would just lay in his teeth and stay still until he dropped her and then pawed at her until she admitted she was okay.

"How long have I been stuck in here?" she breathed tiredly one day as Kurama nuzzled the side of her body where wounds from his teeth still bled. He seemed to try and stop the gushing with his nose but only time made anything better in the ruins of Sakura's mind.

"Time is a concept you humans created to measure the rate of your decay. You do not decay."

"Those boys do. How long have I been away from them?" Sakura asked, rolling away from his nose. He whined and followed her with his maw opening up to lick at her face. "Ew, stop that."

"Can't you forget about them? They don't matter."

"I can't access Kaguya. I should be able to. How else will she know to let me out of this place?"

"You don't need that bitch," Kurama growled. He snapped his jaws up above her head for the sound of teeth on teeth. He then reached down and licked the side of her face again. "Stay here."

"Come with me."

Kurama huffed loudly, reaching back so that he could circle her body where it lay in the dust before settling down to lay around her in a crescent moon shape, nine tails flickering and swirling on their own. "I'll get out on my own, but I'm not going anywhere with that bitch. Maybe I'd come to trust you, maybe I'd come to like you, but I will never trust her or her kind. You'll have to drag me out with chains."

Sakura closed her eyes and ran a hand over where the fabric tore and her skin bled. She could feel the material slowly knit back together. "I won't do that to you."

"Then once you leave, it's our parting."

Sakura pouted. "You don't think you'll miss me?"

He leaned down to lick her face again. "Of all the humans I've known, you are the most tolerable. But I would not be a slave, not even for you."

And Sakura hated it how in one more thing she fell second to Naruto. What he could do she was unable to do. Even with the foreknowledge and time she was unable to win over the nine tailed fox like he had. Not that she wanted to be bonded or connected with Kurama, but she knew that the world would hate him if he was free, and that would transform him into a mess of anger and hurt.

"You're crying."

Sakura lifted an arm to drop over her eyes. "Am not."

"Then you're leaking."

"Fine. Whatever." She inhaled deeply and hated the taste of dust in her mouth. "Just, when you're free, don't hate humans too much. If you do you can just come back and take it out on me. I'll let you eat me."

His ears picked up. "You'll let me eat you up?"

"…If you need someone to take your hurt out on."

Kurama threw his head back and laughed loudly. "Very well. I will seek you out when my vengeance needs sating."

Sakura reached out blindly with her other hand and felt his fur. It was one of his tails that she had a hold on. She felt the flesh of it and ran her nails down it again and again until she felt him settle into a rare state of contentment. He didn't purr, but there was a sort of snoring sound he made when she pet him that let her know he was content.

His tails were especially sensitive, almost as much as the dips behind his ears. If he was especially agitated she knew she could only get him to melt for her with a good scratch there. Of course he never admitted to it verbally. He only cursed at her and screamed that he wasn't a 'damn dog to pet.'

Sakura felt so odd.

She knew she was sleepy, but she felt heavy, like she was going to fall through the world and never stop falling…, like she was being put under a genjutsu. She was locked away before she could move her hands to dispel it and that was the last thing she remembered.

"You!" Kurama growled dangerously, red eyes glowing with molten fire. "You dare trespass here, I won't allow it."

Kaguya held up a single palm and the world was impossibly heavy. Gravity pulled Kurama down and even he was helpless to struggle against it. But he lifted his head enough to see the woman wordlessly move towards Sakura.

"Don't touch her, you filthy witch!"

Kaguya looked back and actually grinned at his fallen form, touching the back of her hand to her lips to hide the smile that creeped up into her eyes. "What a silly little pet, thinking he has any right to talk to me like that. You're no more intimidating that the kit I remember from my world. You couldn't stop me even if you wanted to."

Kurama roared and forced his chakra up against hers, struggling to lift himself a little at a time, still under the influence of crushing gravity. His eyes were liquid fore as he charged his chakra and light began to form deep in his throat.

Kaguya reached for Sakura and smirked as she pulled the girl up into her arms like a mother would her child. The gravity doubled and Kurama was forced back into the ground before her jutsu cut out and the world returned to normal.

"You amuse me, fox. I had thought I would just force you into a cage within her to make Sakura happy, but I don't think she would like that anymore. She's uniquely dedicated to the idea you come to her willingly, a thing you swore you would never do."

"So long as you dwell within her," he growled, still shaking from the impact.

"I believe you. Unfortunately, I am unwilling to watch your dance any longer. Sakura won't last much longer if she stays awake. Her mind is strong, strong enough to survive almost two years worth of isolation, but much more would drive her mad. She's still human…after all."

"What are you going to do then? This is her mind."

"This is, but while she was trying to talk it out with you, her co pilot at the time fell into a trap and now we're all stuck inside the Kohaku no Jōhei, the Amber Purifying Pot. Not even I may be able to break from it."

Realization came over the nine tailed fox as the world took on a new level of heat as his tails fluttered in wild agitation. "Those snacks!" he barked. "How dare the treat me with such disrespect. First they eat of my flesh, now they dare this?"

"They won't keep you trapped here forever. They'll work to get the seals undone and soon we'll be back on the outside. Once there I will do my best to encourage Sakura to see reason and restrain you like the pet you are."

Kurama bit at Kaguya, snapping his jaws just inches from her face. "And I'll encourage Sakura to shed you like an old skin, moon witch! You are nothing but a terrible blight in her life, a bringer of misfortune."

Kaguya blinked and there was a moment when hurt might have flickered across her face, but she raised her chin and let her eyes drop half closed in disinterest. "I can not be parted from her so easily, nor would I want to. She needs me for what is to come."

"War and blood?" he mocked.

"The Hyuga were there, their fear has peaked and their elders have already sent up prayers to the moon. Do you know the horror of my clan's men, pup? Do you know what a hoard of others as dangerous as I could do to this world? They won't stop till they've consumed all the tailed beasts and reclaimed chakra from every living creature as I once sought to." Kaguya drew Sakura's body closer to her. "The day draws closer."

"I don't fear the moon people."

"Then fear  _me_ ," Kaguya hissed, inflating with chakra until she was just as large as the nine tailed fox's full size. Sakura was a crumb in her one hand. "I will smite the worm that comes between me and my child's fate or me and my revenge. The moon clan will rue the day they turned their teeth on my home."

Kurama's fur ruffled as he tried to inflate himself as well. "I'll tear you up once we're free from this."

Kaguya glared, but brought her hand up and her form started to lift, Sakura with it. "We shall see. That day will dawn before you know it. Until then, Sakura will sleep safe within me."

She swallowed Sakura and ate her like a peach.

Kurama roared and it shook the old ruins.

* * *

 


	20. Chapter 20

 

* * *

Izuna dreamt of Sakura for the first time in a long while. When he woke he felt more awake than he had in months. He had tried to forget about her in his daily thoughts and banish her from his wandering muses as best he could to avoid the guilt and hurt. His heart was a scarred thing that didn't flutter for anything anymore.

But when he woke the next morning he felt lighter and more full at the same time, like he was waking up truly for the first time. He dressed readily in simple garb and rushed to Madara's room where the war hawk would be if the Senju had finalized a time and place. Madara was up as well, but still dressed in his sleeping yukata.

"What have you heard?"

"Nothing," Madara groused, covering his mouth to yawn. "But I don't expect anything for the morning. Hashirama told us the location he would take the brothers, so I'm not concerned about waiting on the time of their plan."

"Liar."

Madara looked back and glared at his younger brother. "You're being a brat."

Izuna grinned slyly and pointed to the bright red war fan in the corner that had been freshly polished as well as the red plated armor that shined just as brilliantly. Izuna knew he was just as guilty of being over eager, but at least he was honest about it. Madara needed to learn to be more truthful.

"Keep it up and I'll not share the time of our attack with you," Madara warned, voice wounded.

"You could try, but I'd never let you pass me up in this." Izuna's lips stretched into a wider grin as excitement took root in his eyes. "I'd stalk you across frozen wastelands and to the edge of the moon. There is nowhere you could go that I couldn't follow."

His eyes flashed red with the sharingan that could travel worlds. Madara realized that maybe Sakura was not a subject he could get away with teasing Izuna about. He'd take it too seriously until she was back.

"Don't waste your energy. You'll need it for later." Madara ran another hand through his wild hair before glancing backwards at his brother. "And while you're at it, be a bit more weary. We're likely risking out lives in this endeavor, and the Gold and Silver brothers are no small fish."

"They're not going to be able to stop these Uchiha brothers, not if we're willing to go all out."

Madara winced. "I'd like to be able to walk away from such an ordeal, thank you."

Izuna's expression shifted back into one more neutral, but Madara could tell that his younger brother was beginning to lose patience and grow annoyed. "If you're lacking in faith to this extent than maybe you should be training more seriously."

"Maybe you should be training with me instead of treating your facial skin or printing poetry."

Izuna lifted his chin and stared down the fine line of his nose at his brother. "You're just jealous because I'm the brother with the looks."

"I literally do not care for such a trivial thing."

"Liar."

Madara rolled his eyes and grabbed for his face to rub his fingers into the skin around his eyes. "You are unreasonable. What's gotten into you? No. Don't answer that, I already know. Kami, I wonder if this is going to be worth it if you're already this much of a brat."

Izuna started to inflate with a retort but Madara moaned and ducked his head, covering his face with his hands.

"I know, I know, I know!"

"I don't like your joke," Izuna said, tone even once more.

"You don't like anything right now."

"I'd like the plans for when and where we are going to save Sakura."

Madara bit back a retort about how his younger brother wanted something more than just that, but thought better of it and ended up keeping the comment behind his teeth. He wasn't willing to put any more oil on the fire between them. It would be better if he saved all that energy for later when it mattered. Things would settle down if Sakura was there to smooth it over.

And she would be. There wasn't any chance that this mission would end without her coming back home if she really was the woman in the tree like Hashirama thought.

The hawk arrived within the hour and the Uchiha brothers assembled what they would need in the silence and secrecy hard won. Madara wanted to ask his brother what Izuna had done to distract the elders, but thought better about it once he smelled the herbal tea. They'd be awake before they returned, but their wrath would be worth it.

They didn't take anyone with them, but arrived at the location and hunkered down to wait the full hour before the Senju unit arrived.

Hashurama led the way, followed by the gold and silver brothers who were followed by the Senju boys and finally the four nin body guards from stone. There was an enemy on everyone's neck.

"Here should be safe. You described a frightening range of reach on this creature," the eldest Senju laughed, pointing out the barriers of where he would work. Shrubs full of thorns grow up to shield them in.

The Gold brother walked forward and set the amber pot down in the center of the field, far away from the edge of the shrubs. The ropes around it fell like weights to the grass and he took a step backwards. The pot seemed to grow the further he walked from it.

"Wait," Kawarama called, dashing forward at a polite speed that anyone could track. "I want to stand beside you to help if I can."

"I don't think you will need to, but I don't mind if you don't," Hashirama said, turning over his shoulder to look at the two brothers who were standing beside each other.

The two exchanged a look before nodding. "We're not paying you for extra. It's a flat rate."

"Ah, of course, of course," Hashirama laughed, doing a perfect job of playing the tension off. Nothing seemed to shake him anymore. He was born to lead, anyone could see that.

"Then, by your lead," Kawarama said, nodding to the two brothers as the eldest formed a hand sign.

All of the Senju braced and the four stone nin in the back took an extra step back, one reaching for his windmill shuriken. Tensioned made the air electric.

Release

The command seemed to come from everywhere as a swell of enormous chakra burst through the pot and back muck spilled forth. It was like watching a bubble inflate, as the shape in the muck grew double, triple, quadruple in size. There was the sound of snapping and groaning as arms, no branches, stretched out of the muck. Colors started to appear as the black gunk dripped free.

"Now!"

Hashirama shouted to his youngest brother and together the two of them mimicked the same seal. Their own branches grew from the ground up, blooming with falling leaves that brushed away the black ink and pulled apart the figure underneath the gunk. Just as suspected, it was a tree that was growing up around the figure within.

Hashirama left his brother to restrain the creature while he worked rapidly to counteract the wood growth jutsu with a reverse of his own. It was theory, but he suspected he would be able to take the chakra out of the trees grown by the opponent and nullify their growth. It was theory, but he thought it could work.

"There," the silver brother gasped, pointing to a shape in the heart of the tree, floating in congealed sap like a heart. It looked like a figure holding a dog.

"Hang on!" Hashirama roared, sweating at the brow as he forced his chakra to pull her free, to tear down the boundaries between him and her. It wasn't working, and he felt himself straining. The gold and silver brothers were readying with their treasures though, ready for their own fight.

"Please, Sakura," he whispered, growing thorny rose bushes along her own branches. A few bloomed in shocking red and something changed.

"It's working, keep going!" Itama cried from the sidelines, watching as the tree shape started to shrink around the figure.

What was left of the muck slipped down to cover the sap coat and obscure the shadow of the figure inside. There was a boom like a heartbeat and the tree splintered and shattered, debris going wild.

A face appeared as large as the actual tree, followed by a body just as large. Nine tails swung free as the beast emerged eyes blank whites that saw nothing of the world. A figure perched on it's forehead, still dripping in golden sap. She looked up, the crystal of her horns catching the light as her fangs flashed just as deadly.

"Now, our prize!" the older brother roared as he and his silver sibling rushed forward and engaged the beast with their might.

Kawarama was busy supporting his eldest brother but saw the moment the four stone nin turned on Hashirama and the other Senju brothers, looking ready to kill before paying. They didn't get far. Between the Uchiha siblings who emerged in a swirl of fire and metal, and the other Senju siblings, it really wasn't a contest. Hashirama took a hit when stumbling to his feet, and Izuna bled from a cut along his forearm, but the fight was hardly fair.

"Stupid. They should have known better. Underestimating us like that…." Itama growled, glaring at the far end of the field where the two brothers battled with wild whops and cries of joy. They were bloodthirsty in their delight.

"I think they were counting on you being more exhausted than you were," Madara guessed, eying his friend who still breathed heavily. "You okay there?"

Hashirama nodded, grinning through the pain as he pulled the kunai out of his shoulder and let his chakra naturally heal up. "It didn't work. I wasn't a match for her. She let me overpower her, that the only way I can explain it. The fight she must have put up last time probably looked a lot worse than what we were dealt."

"You did a good job," Madara commented before turning his attention back to Izuna, who was star struck where he stood. Behind him Tobirama watched the scene with trepidation just as closely.

"It's her," Izuna breathed, watching the exchange between the four figures.

A god, her god beast, and two god eaters. It was a mess of destruction as the world around them was ripped up. Back and forth the figures danced, drawing blood and forcing down boulders when they landed. The landscape was a mess.

"She really was in the pot this whole time," Itama commented before reaching over to support his elder brother. "You were right."

"No."

Several faces turned to where Kawaram and Tobirama stood. The youngest Senju was glaring. "That's not Sakura."

"What do you mean that's not Sakura?" Madara asked, glancing back in time to see black fire consume a chunk of forest. "Who else could that be? It looks just like her too."

"No, he's right," Tobirama added. His eyes were narrowed and seeing with detail the things far away. He was skilled as a sensor for more than just one reason. "That's not her. She's smiling so wickedly."

"They're bad men, she's allowed to take delight in destroying them," Izuna snapped, not taking his eyes off her even as he replied to his least liked Senju. No love was lost between the second brothers, especially now when the matter of Sakura was brought up.

"She's been trapped for such a long time. She's changed a little. I would be too. That doesn't mean it's not Sakura," Madara said, feeling a seed of fear in his heart.

It had to be Sakura. It would be too terrible a thing if what they were saying was true. Sure, she didn't look the same, she looked like the gods of legend and more terrifying than ever, cruel and brutal. But Sakura could be cruel. It was years since they last saw her. Only she could do what they were seeing.

"Who else could it be?" Itama asked, sounding worried. If it wasn't Sakura, did that mean they had to fight her? He didn't want to fight a god that could be Sakura.

"It's her, in there somewhere," Hashirama weakly interjected, standing up and pulling away from Itama so he was supported by his own efforts. "Maybe not alone, but Sakura is in there. I wasn't able to do anything, but she taught me how to grow roses. When I felt myself slipping and losing control I grew what she taught me atop her branches and…it changed. She suddenly stopped fighting. Sakura's in there, somewhere."

"She's not alone then," Kawarama said, eyes flashing with knowing.

"It's the other one?" Tobirama asked.

"What are you two talking about?" Madara demanded gruffly while Itama looked on hopelessly lost. Izuna glowered, but refused to speak any more.

There was a crack as the giant paw of the nine tailed fox caught the silver brother and stepped on him, pinning him down. The gold brother screamed in concern for just a moment, remembering his humanity, before black fire cut straight through him. His death was reflected in the eyes of his younger brother a second before every bone was crushed under that paw. Blood sprayed everywhere.

"I'm not waiting anymore," Izuna growled, dashing forward. Madara was quick to follow his brother, but the Senju boys were just as quick.

"Sakura!" Itama called up to the figure at the top of the tailed beast.

The orange head swiveled and a massive jaw opened wide. The air turned shimmery in front of him before he was pushed to the ground by Tobirama just in time to miss being charred with fox fire.

The other boys prepared to engage but there was a boom as the ground around them shattered and crushing gravity turned the fox over and pushed him into the earth with a whimper. Gold chains formed around his body, coiled around one another to the point on his head where the woman stood, hair long and body covered in crystal growth for modesty's sake. Not a stitch of fabric was left on her body.

She looked up from the fox's head as it whimpered and clawed at the earth, stuck sideways.

"Cool," Itama breathed, not phased at all by the fact he had nearly been fried alive.

"It  _is_  you, Sakura," Hashirama cried in delight, taking a step forward only to be stopped by Tobirama and Kawarama. Tobi turned his sword in her direction and glared hard.

"What do you think you're doing," Izuna hissed, red eyes flashing.

"You're not her, you're the other one," Tobirama shouted up to the figure atop the tailed beast. "Who are you?"

They were close enough to see her expression shift into amusement. Long white hair reached her ankles and draped over her like a coat. Her eyes, green but only barely, rolled over to Kawarama. There were veins around her eyes.

"Boy," she called down to him. "Have we ever shared with you our name?"

There was extra static from Kawaram's wild chakra. "No, but I've seen you before. You're the one Sakura ate, the god she devoured! What have you done with her?"

Her eyes were lazy, trailing over each of them before returning to the youngest. She leaned down, over the brow of the crippled fox. "We have a name you will not know, but we are called Kaguya. It's a pleasure to speak like this, finally face to face. Sakura protected her children so fervently we were afraid we would never meet like this."

"You were the one that took over during the duel with the disgruntled Uchiha," Tobirama shouted up. "The one that fed her so much power."

"Ah," she looked to the pale red eyed Senju boy but didn't seem interested in talking to him. She carried herself like a high born lord and spoke like one too. The way she addressed herself was with the plural 'we' which was used by emperor and only the most esteemed lords.

"What have you done to Sakura?" Hashirama asked, stepping forward. His legs shook and he was still tired, more than he wanted to admit, but he couldn't show that now.

Her eyes widened and she paced down the snout of the fox and stopped at the edge of his lip. "Yes, you are one of them. Sakura would not bring you to the place of meeting and never told you about your legacy," she breathed, touching a slender finger to her lips. Her eyes seemed to soften as she looked up to where Madara stood.

"What do you imply now?" Madara sneered, stepping up beside his friend.

"We have been waiting for you, but you did not come." Her voice was softer.

"And we're not going anywhere with you without Sakura. Where is she?" Madara shouted, posturing as the more aggressive of the two eldest brothers.

She looked past them to where the husk of her old tree stood, mostly stump and wood chips. "We've been sleeping for so long. It wasn't safe for her to be aware so long, years will drive such fragile creatures to madness. Sakura is sleeping where she may rest safe. If she were to wake and regain control, than this creature would be free to make a mess of the world once more." She tugged on the glowing golden chains and the fox whimpered. "What a shame. If only she would agree that force is necessary in this situation."

"When she left so long ago, it was to stop the fox from destroying the countryside," Madara commented, taking a step towards his brother. "Why is she so against keeping him locked up now?"

She looked down to the lip of the creature she stood atop of. "Because he thinks, because he feels. She is a girl who believes in free will and cowers in the face of slavery. We do not blame her this, she is only human."

"Sakura would be able to force you down and regain control if she was awake," Tobirama cut in. "You don't have any right to pilot her body like it is your own."

"What right does a god need?" she asked in a booming voice, eyes sharped to glare at the pale Senju. "Sakura came to us, consumed us. She wanted death and vengeance but we gave her life, a blessed life." Her eyes switched to the youngest Senju and she raised a finger, supple and thin. "When you were in the maw of death who do you thank for where you stand now, boy?  _Anything,_  she said. She said she would give  _anything_  for the power to bring you back, and so there is no room for complaint if we protect what we covet. We have every right to protect this girl as we see fit."

"I want her back, now," Kawarama said, still glaring back.

"She will be foolish and free this beast. We can not allow that. It will cause her untold grief and we know she will blame herself for it. You can do nothing to placate the wails of her heart."

"Is that it?" the youngest asked. "You just need a way to restrain the fox beast?"

She straightened bringing her finger back to her chin as she watched him anew. The youngest and the oldest Senju were exchanging glances and Hashirama seemed more tired than before.

"It's still a huge risk. You don't know what it will do to you," the eldest said to Kawarama.

"It's the whole reason I'm like this now, isn't it?" he asked, looking away from his older brother to the woman. "I can contain the tailed best within myself. You ensured that when all these latent abilities surfaced. If you seal him inside me, you'll free Sakura."

"Interesting. Yes, in the other world that one leashed them all and sold the tailed beasts off," she murmured, looking to Hashirama. "You were never in those stories, but maybe you may survive for this one. Very well, boy. We will seal this monster in you, contain him with your will if you can, and Sakura will be free to wake from this slumber. Your choice may very well make a difference in the moon wars to come."

"Moon wars?" Madara asked, sounding both confused and angry.

"If you believe in such things," she murmured dreamily as her skin began to glow white and brilliant.

She was fast, but every twitch and movement was in their eyes as she reached for the boy and dragged him close. He was still a fourteen year old kid, just barely so, and he looked so small compared to her with his thin wrists and face full of baby fat. When she grinned her teeth were petite fangs.

"Take him," she whispered in a dreamy state, pushing a seal into his chest that burned.

He screamed and the gold chains around the fox went taunt, rattling and reeling him in. With a cry the fox was sucked inside the seal and she finished it with a laugh, locking the beast within the smallest Senju.

He started to feel tired but she reached for him and drew him close. She pressed her lips to his face and hugged him close. He heard her voice like a far off birdcall, more in his bones than in his ears. 'She loves you too dearly. We're jealous so be weary.'

The world burned in brilliant white light.

* * *

"I feel like we've waited so long, it's hard to wait any longer," Itama sighed, watching Madara lay Sakura down in her bed from so long ago, the one he had tucked her into years ago when she lost her hand in a duel. Behind them Izuna Uchiha watched on, silent and still.

"It's true, but at this point, to know she is safe and herself is enough for me. She can sleep a little more, I'm happy I know where she is and that she's finally safe." Madara looked up back at his brother who stood at the edge of the threshold, but bit the words back. "I can wait a little longer."

Itama nodded before turning and heading for the door. "Then I'll take off. I promised Mito I would head straight back and I'm not sure if this counted as part of the job, but I'm sure she'll understand so long as I come back in one piece."

He started to pass the younger Uchiha but stopped when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Izuna was looking down at the younger Senju boy. "You are happy with her?"

"Mito?" Itama couldn't help but flush. "Every day."

Something about Izuna's face softened. "That is good to hear. I am…glad you were able to be so lucky with a bride choice. Of all the Senju, I disliked you the least."

Itama didn't care that the last part was a slight on the rest of his brothers, he was just so glad to be seen as lucky with Mito and even to have this conversation with Izuna. It was something none of his brothers could boast.

"Thanks, you're not too bad yourself, you know. Take care of Sakura until we get back!" He stepped out of the house and nearly bumped into his eldest brother. "Ah, sorry!"

"That's fine," Hashirama chuckled, passing up the younger Senju and entering the home in Sakura's garden.

There was much active outside as people started to offer more and more up to her shrine not far from the house. At the base of the tree she first slept in there were offerings both fresh and old. Hashirama brought his own into her bedroom.

"No sign of waking?" he asked, voice soft but hopeful.

"You think?" Madara huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "We just brought her back from devil knows what sort of nightmare. God or not, I'd be shocked to see her up so soon."

The eldest Senju hummed before moving to set his vase of roses on a table and flare them out artfully. The smell made the room sweet. He had grown a fistful of red and pink roses in all different shades and accented them with white yarrow buds. "Shouldn't the two of you be running back to your lands soon? Who did you leave in charge?"

Madara flinched. "I don't wanna go back. We're going to be in trouble."

"It can't be that bad."

Izuna and Madara both shivered. "You have no idea. Clan head means nothing to the elders. God among all their laws is staying safe until an heir is born. They're worried about another war and I'm this close to giving up only to regain some freedom again."

"You think now is the time for peace talks in earnest?" Hashirama asked, eyes lighting with eagerness. "With Sakura back I'm sure she would bless a formal alliance. Maybe even…maybe even enough to help us start our own village."

Madara grinned, knowing Izuna was listening and would tease him for it later. "Yeah right, our own ninja village in the Land of Fire? Who would join that?"

"We wouldn't need anyone else, just our clans."

"Baka," Madara smacked the back of his friend's head. "A village needs alliances. Two clans wouldn't survive as distinct entities, but melt into one, like what happened with the Hagotomo and the Uchiha clans." Madara ran a hand through the mess that was his hair, knowing he was nowhere near as pretty looking as his brother. He was the strong one, Izuna was the pretty one, after all. "You would need more than the Uchiha for that."

"Then the Uzamaki? We start with them." He spread his hands wide for emphasis.

"They'll be weary of the two of us. Uchiha and Senju are like oil and water. There needs to be more than just them. Who would believe in our peace?" Madara grumbled.

"Sakura would." Both males looked over to Izuna, who stayed where he stood watching Sakura. He looked up and repeated himself. "Sakura would believe in our peace. It would be her dream too, and I want to protect that for her. She could come to live with us in our village and bring the garden there. People would come just for her."

"And you say you have no head for clan politics," Madara teased with a sly smile, watching his cute younger brother's face turn red. "You're more crafty than you know."

Hashirama grinned wide. "I think it's time we set a date for a formal discussion, my friend."

"Whenever Sakura wakes up, but not before then."

 


	21. Chapter 21

**Under the Rabbit Moon**

 

* * *

There was always someone at her bedside or near. Some of the boys thought she would wake in days, others thought it would be longer. Sakura slept one day and one day only. The next morning as the sun climbed higher into the sky, high enough to make the world warm, Sakura opened her eyes.

She saw the world and then had to close her eyes again as sensation spread through her body for the first time in a long time. She felt like she was filling herself up like a cup empty for too long. Tingles chased the numb away as she spread her fingers and then flexed her hands into fists that ultimately fell apart to brace on the sides of the bed. She tired opening her eyes again but they were weights, too heavy to lift just yet, so she shifted onto her side and reached up to rub her face with one hand.

She heard movement and forced her sight to focus through rabidly blinking lashes. There was a figure beside her, proper up in the chair at her bedside. Her heart leapt, suspecting Hashirama or maybe Madara by the size and span of the shoulders against the streaming sunlight. Her eyes adjusted and her heart staggered in her chest.

"Itama?" she breathed, struggling to grasp reality. Were there threads of illusion around her. She flared her chakra and panicked when she sensed nothing. It wasn't a genjutsu, what she saw was unaltered. That really was an older Itama.

"Sakura?" the boy yawned and then blinked awake, his face melted from drowsy plasticity to jolting excitement. "Oh Sakura, it really is you. You're awake!"

He jumped up from his seat and then reached for her, falling atop her in a hug that squeezed her shoulders with more strength than she remembered him capable of. Was this the eleven year old she left behind? He was too big for her, practically an adult with baby fat still rounding the corners of his face.

"Itama!" her voice was thick with alarm, more so than excitement. Her tone made him pause and pull away to see her eyes wide and shaking in their sockets. "What happened to you, to me? How-how long?"

He winced at the crack in her voice. "Sakura, it doesn't matter, you're awake now."

Sakura swallowed thickly, reaching for his face and pushing back the strands of mis matched hair that she remembered so well. It was longer, healthier, but still as soft to touch and pleasant to run her fingers through.

She pulled her fingers away, hands shaking too hard.

Itama was barely a boy. Maybe a civilian his age would look more like a youth, but Itama was a Senju bred for the battle and born into the war. He was fit and healthy and had an age to his eyes that came with the killing more so than the time. There was more age in his eyes than she remembered when she last left. What did that mean? What had happened to him in the time since she had been gone? What had she missed?

"I never told you goodbye or where I was going," she breathed, bracing on his shoulders at last. "It's been years, hasn't it?"

"Yeah," he finally admitted, laying a hand atop the ones that shook on his shoulders. "Four years."

Sakura choked on a gasp.  _So long_?

She remembered the darkness, she remembered the long night that did not end, without measure of girth. She hadn't suspected it to be that long, but she must have spent years with the fox in that domain before…before…there was another sleep too, wasn't there? There was no presence in her mind to shout out to, but Sakura cried out regardless, demanding she be answered by the Moon Goddess.

WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?

"I don't remember it," Sakura whispered, nearly falling back into the bed.

Itama had to reach behind her and pull her forward to keep her upright. She swayed where she sat.

"It's okay, we don't care. We're all just glad you're back home at long last. You're safe now."

His words caused her to smile bitterly. If the situation was different, if she didn't have these attachments, then it wouldn't have mattered to her if she slept for four days or four years, but she felt cheated to see her boy all grown up….almost.

"You've filled out," she teased easily, turning her face away to fix the sad out of her smile and make it something worth wearing.

"N-no, not really. I mean, I don't feel that different. I still have a long way to go."

"You're bigger than Hashirama was when I left. He must be something else. He and Madara are…"

Her eyes went distant as she did the math and stumbled at the end of childhood. They were both close to eighteen, older than she was when she lost Naruto and the rest of team seven, older than she was when she bit into a god and became something else.

_Had she been this person for so long? Had she been a creature half human half god for so many years now?_

Madara was a _smidgen_ younger, but still, the age of majority was seventeen in her time and probably younger still in theirs. Would that mean they have families of their own yet? Would Hashirama and Mito know each other? She knew how history was supposed to go, but the details where ghosts in her brain. When and how did such things come about? She wanted to know, but at the same time her heart pulled away from the knowing of it. She didn't want to face the truth if it was something so bittersweet. She didn't want to miss the important parts of their life.

"They are both still friends if that's what you were wondering about. We're not best buds with the Uchiha, but we work together from time to time and I think the two of them are really serious this time about doing something about our two clans. With you here I think things could actually work out. They worked together to find you and free you. Did you remember that?"

"Should I?" Sakura asked weakly, feeling younger and smaller than she should.

The Senju boy shook his head and the mismatched parts of his two tone hair smacked him in the face where it was longer. "I guess not. We weren't talking to you then. The god inside of you sounded so different than you, we knew it wasn't really you speaking to us back there?"

Sakura felt a cloud of memory pass over her and she could almost see herself standing atop a monstrous fox speaking to a group of men and boys, but it wasn't her voice. Kaguya controlled her body and words then and there. That wasn't a dream, but a memory inside her brain that she was never a part of.

There was a new roll of nausea in her gut as Sakura panicked about what she might have said or done. She grabbed for Itama. And fell against his side. He was on the bed next to her, supporting her with teenage shoulders still too small for war, but maybe too broad to call a child's.

"I'm sorry. What did I say, what did I do?"

"You didn't do anything, we know it wasn't you."

He sounded almost upset that she would ask him that. His hand came up behind her and held her shoulder, rubbing it kindly. It was something she would have done to anyone else needing some extra comfort and support. How funny.

"What did she say?" Sakura asked, voice a whisper.

He shrugged. "Lots of stuff we really didn't get, but that the two of you were separate and she's protective of you? She doesn't seem to want to hurt you or swallow you up like we were afraid of."

"I don't think so either, she's not tried to force herself into me unless it was…what she thought to be a most important situation. She could have been crueler to me, but she's not."

"She seems like a little bit of a bitch though, sorry if that offend you."

Sakura couldn't help but laugh. "That's alright. Maybe that's true, but it makes me think that being a little bit of a, of a…bitch is what it takes to get the job done. She's powerful, and she's a woman. You don't see that very often, do you?"

"I see it in you!" he protested.

"Aside from me?"

"…I see your point. Still, she's not you and I like you better."

Sakura hummed, reaching over to run her fingers through his hair and mess up the different colors. "What else happened that you can tell me?"

"She said stuff about a fox that you wouldn't seal inside of you without its permission."

Sakura's body went taught and she reached for her stomach, feeling for a seal with flaring chakra, but there was nothing there. She stood suddenly and looked around the room, flaring her senses wide and wider only to come up empty.

"What happened to him?" Sakura demanded in a scared voice. "What did she do?"

"He's not loose, or wild or whatever, but it was-" Itama stood and waved his hands looking nervous. "I don't want to be the one to tell you this, I told him I would let him tell you himself."

"Who?" Sakura asked in a voice too thin.

If her voice was a summoning she would believe it, because at that moment the chakra she recognized and didn't entered her scope of senses and she turned to the door, bracing for the familiar fox form to barrel in, but the door to her front opened and it wasn't the red fox, but the youngest Senju, devoid of a shirt, standing with sweat all across his face, and a bright black seal inked into his chest. The chakra from the fox subsided and Kawarama's chakra became dominate as he sped in the rest of the way and launched himself into her arms, still young and small enough to be smaller than her.

Sakura cried out in a broken joy that came from the deepest parts of her, grabbing him easily and swinging him around her and then lifting him up over her head to toss back down into the bed, forgetting his isn't a seven year old anymore. But he bounces on the mattress and laughed just like he used to for her and Sakura is, for a moment, caught in perfect bliss.

"Mom," he says, and she knows he means her.

More than any of the others, in ways that can't be explain, Kawarama was her's. He had always seen her as the mother he chose, even before she dragged him back to life and began his living anew. He was her child, her son, and she was his.

"Kawarama," Sakura breathed, bending down and pulling him into her arms again, forgetting about the grief of the fox and the seal and the black ink staring up at her so evilly. "Oh, Kawarama."

He was still a boy, smaller than a man and perfectly shaped for her arms to hold. Older, yes, but not too old. She hadn't missed too much. He was still hers.

She felt the tears break her as she sobbed on his shoulder and two pairs of arms came around her to hold her. She didn't even realize it was from grief that she was crying, because she still felt so happy to see him. She felt so happy to see both of them. She was so happy.

But she was sobbing.

"It's okay," Itama tried to calm her.

Kawarama kissed her cheek and she felt her tears spread across her face, smeared there by his lips. "Mom, don't cry, you're safe now."

"I'm so sorry," Sakura choked out. She grabbed for both of them. "I'm sorry I did this, I'm sorry this happened, I'm sorry I went away, I'm sorry I-I-I wanted to come back to you. I didn't know-I didn't know!"

She wasn't the only one shaking. Both boys were rattled in different ways as they all banded together around her to try and keep the three of them steady. Kawarama started to cry too.

"I missed you so much but I just so happy you're safe and you came back to me," he said into the side of her neck. "Don't cry, mom, don't cry anymore. I'm happy, I'm so happy you're here."

Item let her go first and Sakura felt Kawarama spread his arms to hold even more of her, covering what his brother let go of. If she was a broken thing with broken pieces falling and drifting apart she knew he wouldn't let her come undone with the way he held onto her.

How dar she leave this.

"I was foolish. I didn't think it was turn out like this."

"It's not your fault," Itama says, watching his brother with concern almost as much as Sakura. He touches her arm and moves his hand to cup her elbow. "We know you didn't want to leave us, don't think we ever suspected that."

Sakura looks up and knows her eyes are agitated and red from tears. Ugly crying, as Ino would say. It had been a long time since she had the energy for ugly crying.

It's in that moment that a new figure cut into the light filtering in front the doorway and Sakura flinches, covering her face to hide her shame and the mess of her while the figure stalks in a stops too close to the bedside and Itama.

"Mito," Itama breathed, dropping Sakura's elbow and taking a step forward to be closer to the new arrival, or maybe it was a step away from Sakura.

Sakura recognized the name, but didn't dare look up at the face of Hashirama's future bride and Naruto's not so distant ancestor. She spread her fingers and caught the tear stains in their drag as she wiped her face clean. It would be impossible to hide the fact that she had been crying, but maybe she could lessen the effect and maybe Mito would't notice enough to care.

"I felt the flare and then Kawarama just ran off in the middle of our examination. We weren't finished, you know," the young princess huffed, glaring over at the youngest Senju.

"It's fine. The seal is holding and there's nothing important enough that it can't wait until later. You've had hours to look me over, I not unreasonable to ask for five minutes."

Mito exhaled loudly, hands on her hips. "Something tells me you're not coming back in five minutes."

Kawarama tilted his chin up and let his lids lower to halfway in a show of disinterest. He still held onto Sakura while he answered and didn't even lean away from her to speak. "I might have planned to, but if you want the honest truth, no, I'm not coming back in five minutes."

"Figured." Mito moved her hands from his hips to cross under her chest. "Fine, stay here. Item and I will excuse ourselves. I need him if you're going to be spiteful."

Sakura looked up through the long strands of hair that had fallen over her shoulders when she ducked her face. She saw the red haired princess grab Itama and tug him along. He didn't look displeased with the attention, but there was a flash of worry in his lips as he glanced back at Sakura and his brother, before Mito dragged him all the way out of sight. She didn't seem to see any need in addressing Sakura or asking the younger boy his opinion, and Sakura wondered how long the two boys had know Mito the Uzamaki princess.

"That was Mito san. I'm sorry I didn't introduce you just now, but she'll be back later when she's ready to talk to you." Kawarama sat down beside her and dropped his arms from the hug to rest on his lap. "She's kind of a handful when it comes to Itama, so it might be a while before she is ready."

"How long has the Uzamaki girl been someone you could talk to so easily?" Sakura asked, sounding more tired than she thought she should.

"Oh, you know, like maybe…two to three months? She's been living close only recently, but we've been on good terms with the Uzamaki for a while now. I think it was three months ago we went to visit their lands and stayed with the head family for a little while. It was one of the last trips dad made as clan head. He's still around, just sick," he rushed to explain, seeing Sakura's concerned expression.

"How long has he been unwell?"

"A long time, but he's been on bedrest the past month, right before the Uzamaki came to stay. It's a year long engagement decided on by our fathers. At the end of the year Mito is marrying into our clan."

"A year?" Sakura breathed, feeling her chest grow tight. It would only be another eleven months before Hashirama was married and the future Senjus are conceived. She had missed so much already and she came so close to missing even more.

Be grateful you didn't sleep for five years, or ten years.

Sakura fisted her hands and breathed in deep enough to feel her lungs before exhaling again. She was spiraling into self pity that would not do her any good. The deed was done. She needed to focus on what she could do, not what she couldn't change.

"I'm sure she will make a lovely Senju bride. Your clan will be lucky to have her and her family in your fold."

Kawarama snorted. "Yeah, well, Itame seems happy about it, so that's all I care about. She's a little bossy for my tastes. She has been hounding me since I woke up about this seal but I've already told her it's fine."

Sakura's attention switched at the mention of the seal and she reached for his stomach to touch the ink. Kawarama didn't pull away from her, but leaned back to stretch the skin and make it more visible for her. He seemed proud of it as he allowed his 'mother' to inspect the handiwork of Kaguya.

"This seal isn't like Naruto's," Sakura breathed, speaking more to herself than to Kawarama. She didn't know much about seals, it wasn't her area of expertise, but she knew a good few points and the basics of course. It helped that she was so close to Naruto and had seen his seal up close more than once.

"Whatever it is, the seal seems to be working just fine. There's no mad fox god running around killing people, so I think we can relax a bit." He poked his seal and frowned when nothing happened.

But Sakura remembered sensing the chakra of the nine tailed fox just moments before Kawarama showed up. The seal wasn't as complete as they suspected it, at least, that is what her gut told her.

"He's not a mad fox god," Sakura said, touching the front of his seal and pushing some of her chakra into it, trying to feel what it held back. "He was my friend for a while, and he's just as capable as you or I of feeling hurt and loss. He's been abused by people before, and that is why they say he is wild. People for ages have tried to beat him into submission, tame him and use him like a weapon, but he thinks and feels just as you or I would."

Her palm warmed when she felt a flame of familiar chakra. It was enough to bring out her smile.

"I consider him my friend." She looked up to Kawarama. "Please take care of him, be kind to him and treat him the way you would any other friend of yours. In another lifetime I knew a boy who I considered my brother. He also held within himself a tailed beast, but he worked to befriend the creature and together they made an unstoppable pair. He is not a monster."

"You talk like you know him."

Sakura nodded. "Before I fell asleep, I remember talking with him and getting to know him in a world made out of his mind. While there I was vulnerable and became trapped in that sealing amber pot your brought me out of. But, before I fell asleep in that world, he and I grew to know each other a little better. He was…kind to me, at least towards the end he was. He acts mean, but I don't think that's his truest nature."

"If he was kind to you that's all it takes for me. I'll do it. If he was nice to you I'll treat him like that too. I trust the people you trust." He smiled and leaned his head down until it settled on her shoulder. "He's not talking to me or anything, but I'll try to make him my friend if that's what you think I should do."

"It's what I think you can do. You're one of the sweetest and most kind people I've ever know, Kawarama," Sakura said, pulling him into another hug. "I think you can do what I could not. I think you can save him."

"Sure. It was you who saved me first, after all."

Sakura washed and dressed and pulled her long, long hair back to cut, only to think better of it and start to plate it away from her in a braid that spanned the length of her body. Part way into the braid she gave up and asked Kawarama to come in and help. It was him who actually did the braiding since he could work on her hair so much more efficiently. She teased him only a little for knowing how to braid and he didn't blush at all, seeing no shame in knowing such a useful thing.

"I get to help my mom out, so it's useful," he claimed.

Together the pair left the house and Sakura spent several hours greeting old and new faces in her garden, crying for some and laughing for others. The fact there were so many children, babies, toddlers, youths, and adolescents, thrilled her to no end. The garden was a safe place mothers could bring their families when they had no where else to go.

They wanted her to eat with them that night, but Kawarama interjected and said that Sakura would be the guest of the Senju that night.

Sakura remembered the Senju weren't the only ones there and hated how her heart hurt at the idea of little Hashirama growing up and getting married already. True, some girls got married as young as fourteen or thirteen in this era, but it was still a bit unsettling to see it happen in front of her with people she knew. Mito didn't look much older than sixteen, and Hashirama probably didn't act much older than that if her guess about his personality was accurate.

"The Uchiha brothers are going to be pissed tonight. We invited them but apparently the elders of their clan are keeping them back, so it'll just be us tonight. You can see the pinwheel boys tomorrow," Kawarama explained.

"I would imagine Tobi and Hashirama are quite busy running the clan while your father is on bedrest."

He winced at her kind tone. "Don't let them hear you say that. It'll go to their heads. They should have been here to see you. I mean, I understand while Tobi nii isn't, because he's an ass, but Hashirama was beside himself talking and thinking about you.

"I don't blame him. He has a political wedding to help plan, after all."

Kawarama shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Man, being clan head sure does suck. Someone always needs him."

Sakura couldn't help but laugh, remembering Naruto in spite of herself. Kawarama was so sweet but he wasn't a little boy anymore, and the way he complained reminded her of this fact almost too often.

The pair sat on the side of a hill looking down over the garden. They were high up enough that if Sakura tried, she could see to the low lands below the mountain where the Senju made camp. It wasn't far, and would take them very little time to get down when it got closer to dinner.

Beside her, Kawarama wove flowers into a crown far neater than the one Sakura had attempted. He set it atop her head when he was done and then proceeded to decorate her braid with flowers.

There was so much to talk about, but for that moment, Sakura was content with the calm and silence. She was content with just his presence. She was content with the world and all that it held.

Her senses tingled as a new chakra signature entered her scope of range. She opened her drowsy eyes to look up and see the person Kawarama was already frowning at.

"I thought the Uzamaki were still hounding you for things," Kawarama said over Sakura's shoulder. His tone was as dismissive as his posture and Sakura couldn't help but smile at the way the brothers treated each other.

"That's Tobirama's problem now," Hashirama laughed, grin so wide it looked like it would break his face. "I came as soon as I heard, Sakura. You're finally awake and somewhere I can reach you."

She smiled brightly up at him, unable to say anything. She thought she wouldn't, but the sight of him inspired tears and a few fell from her lashes. She opened her mouth and words dissolved into giggles mixed with hiccups.

Hashirama was in front of her, all grown up, broad in the shoulders and tall as a tree. His hair was long the way the pictures in history books remembered their founder. He was an adult already, and she missed seeing him get there.

"Hashirama," she managed to say, still smiling through her tears.

She started to reach for him, still sitting, when he fell atop her in a hug that swallowed her. She felt his shoulders shake and heard the sob and all she could do was laugh as he cried, holding him when she had no right to with arms so small and frame so modest. He was bigger than her at last, and she missed it.

"I missed you so much," he said into her back. She felt him hug tighter. "You're back."

"I'm back," Sakura echoed. "I'm home."

Around them, rose bushes bloomed in wild shades of red.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the lovely comments in regards to this fic. I hope to have more and more chapters uploaded each day and to work on this more during the coming months. Your kind words mean to world to me. (They're honestly the only emails I look forward to opening from my inbox.)


	22. Chapter 22

 

* * *

**Under the Rabbit Moon**

* * *

 

"You know I'm not going anywhere, you don't have to overreact like this," Sakura chuckled.

He protests with a pout that makes him seem younger. "It's not overreacting and it's not because I think you're going anywhere. I just want to hold your hand, okay?"

To prove his point he tugs on her hand where their fingers are intertwined. She is drawn a little closer to his side and he lowers his head until his forehead touches the crown of her skull where new flowers are woven in.

"You don't have to make me feel shorter than I already do. Gosh, you grew like a weed when I wasn't looking. How tall are you now and how did that happen?" Sakura joked.

Hashirama pulls away just enough for her to see his stupidly wide grin. "I'm taller than you now. Wanna bet I can carry you better, too?"

Sakura raises a single brow. "Really? I may be old but the day hasn't dawned when you can out lift me, growth spurt or no growth spurt."

"Nah, nah, you don't have to worry so much about being the strongest anymore. We're not like how we were when you left us. We're much stronger now, strong enough that you don't have to worry."

Some of the teasing went out of his voice as he drew closer to her again and closed his eyes to rest his head atop hers. His body seemed to sag once there. She felt him sigh like he was made out of weights that he was allowing to finally drag him down.

She glanced to the side of her to see Kawarama braiding flowers together, but he glanced up and caught her eye when he felt her gaze. His responsive smile was tight.

"I don't worry," she said.

"You shouldn't. We're all really strong now. The Senju clan is one of the strongest forces in all of the Land of Fire. The only clan that can really rival us is the Uchiha, and we've done a good job of staying out of each other's way for a while now. I think that this time we can honestly manage a lasting peace. We've bled enough for it."

"You certainly have," Sakura agreed, closing her eyes and seeing fire and blood. "I don't doubt you'll work and win that peace one day soon. You mentioned something about working with Madara, correct?"

"He was supposed to be here tonight for the dinner. I invited him but those elders are bats about their heirs. Ever since their father died…" His voice drifted off.

Sakura felt a pang of guilt. She hadn't been exceedingly close with Tajima, but he had always been kind to her, even after her honesty about how she could never return feelings for a man at her stage in life. He had respected her in that and still see her as someone important to him and his people, calling her sister. She was sorry she missed his life and sorry she wasn't there when he fell. It must have been a hard thing for the brother to deal with, but at least they had each other.

"Im sorry to hear about their father."

She held back her comments about regretting how she couldn't be there for the brothers during that time of mourning and upheaval. That couldn't have been a good time to go though without friends.

"He was missed, to be sure, but Madara is quite the clan leader in his own way. He's done wonders to preserve his people through a bloody era. He's very capable," Hashirama boasted.

"I believe you, but you don't think they'll manage to sneak away?" Sakura asked, shaking off the thoughts and worries.

"Nah, maybe not tonight, but tomorrow if I feel generous I might help them a little bit."

Sakura couldn't hold back the quick and sharp snort of disbelief. "Really? You don't feel generous tonight?"

His expression is a mixture of guilt and coyness. "Not tonight. I'm allowed to be selfish, okay? One night before we have to share you again, that will be all I ask for."

"Be careful, he lies," Kawarama muttered, glaring at his brother out of the corner of his eye.

Hashirama looked to his youngest brother with a look of sharp shock and betrayal. "What kind of treatment is this? After all I've done for you?"

"No loyalty among brothers it seems."

Sakura hums, peeling petals back from a rose's budding middle and then letting the flower fall to the grass beside her. She pushed up off the ground and this caused Hashirama to have to roll off of her and stand or be left behind. He is quick to follow.

"Tell me more of how you've been while we head back to the garden," Sakura says to the elder brother while taking Kawaraa by the hand. "I hear of so many new and exciting changes coming to this clan. What of the Uzumaki, how long have then been so close?"

"Oh that," he begins, climbing to his feet and following her out. "That's been a growing relationship in the works for years now, probably from before you were even in our lives I would say. But it really increased about the time…or just before…the incident with the Hagotomo clan trying to take over the Uchiha and your disappearance. I heard it had to do with their failure to contain Kawarama's fox."

"Kurama."

Both boys looked to her.

"Eh?" Kawarama made a sound of confusion.

"His name, it's Kurama." Sakura smiled looking to Kawarama now. "But don't let him know I told you this. He'll get agitated about it."

"How did you know its name?" Hashirama asked, reaching for her sleeve and tugging on it to slow her down and walk even with him.

" _His_  name," Sakura corrected, "and that was something I already knew going in. I knew a little more history than the others before deciding to mess with him."

"You two sound close," he says, inching his hand up from her sleeve to her hand where his fingers work on curling in between her own. She frowns playfully like an exasperated mother but doesn't pull away.

"I would like to think we grew close during the time I was in his mind scape. I'm not sure how to measure time there, but it was longer than a couple of days and shorter than four years. There wasn't a lot of variety in talking buddies, so…"

"I'd like to learn more about him," Kawarama admits, looking from Sakura to Hashirama. "He doesn't sound like what I expected."

"What did you expect?"

"A wild monster, a demon without feeling I guess," he answered. "I don't know. I never thought much past the destructive capabilities, to be honest."

"That's the same for most others. No one really needs to see him for anything more, but that's changed now that he's bonded with you. You're his container, so you are going to have to see him as something more than the creature from stories meant to scare little children."

With his free hand, Hashirama reached for the shoulder of his youngest brother and claps his hand down hard before giving him a good squeeze. "If there is anyone who is perfect for the job than it's you, Kawa chan. I believe in you."

"And I believe in you, of course," Sakura laughed, loving the way Kawarama blushed from the sound of his elder brother's nickname for him. "I'll help you as much and as often as I can, but I don't think I'll need to. You're the right sort of person for the job."

"What does that mean?" he mutters, shrugging off Hashirama's hand.

"It means you're perfect, you're willing to see past what you've heard and look at the situation with fresh eyes and that's what he needs. He sees the world as a place made up of hateful creatures when he looks at humans, because that is all he has experienced." Her chin turns mischievous as she leans in to tell him the rest. "But also, he's sort of an asshole and you're got just enough sass to handle him I think."

"Ah, is that why you're so close with him, because you're used to hanging around assholes?" Kawarama teases back before pointedly looking over her shoulder at Hashirama.

"Me?!" the elder brother squeaks. "What-what? I'm not-why would you say something like that?"

Kawarama's smile is a devious cut of lips across his face. "Eh, kind of an asshole, but not as bad as Tobi nii."

Hashirama appears to melt behind Sakura as he holds his face and pales. "What have I done that warrants such an identity in your mind?"

Kawarama doesn't hesitate, but puffs his chest out and struts back and fort in an imitation of his brother, prattling on in a stiff, overly pleasant tone of voice that sounds condescending when he laughs. Kawarama mimics his brother making clan decisions and talking about his wood release being so advanced and that one day his younger brother might be able to do this thing but don't worry, because, 'the fact you can do this at all is astonishing, ha ha ha, watch me grow a forest.'"

Sakura collapsed into giggles and felt her ribs ache as she cried at the sight of brother mocking brother. It was perfectly brutal because Kawarama was likely the only person alive who could get away with mocking the future first hokage with such brutal accuracy. Not even Madara could achieve such a feat. No one else alive outside the brothers would dare wast the breath bad mouthing the Senju clan leader.

"You are too cruel, Kawa chan," Hashirama whines.

The younger Senju flushes. "Yet you're the one calling me names in front of Sakura."

"That's not a mean name!"

"You're making fun of me."

"I wasn't!"

"You're trying to make me look uncool in front of my mother!"

"I would never. Why would I possibly want to do something like that?"

The skin around Kawarama's eyes tightened as a vein pulsated with agitation. Wordlessly he held up a rose and waved it before leaning in to say something. A trunk exploded out of the ground right below the younger boy's feet and he was sent flipping back, countering with his own wood growth jutsu to catch him before he could fall too far.

"See, he's being an asshole again!" Kawarama shouted, pointing down at his sheepish brother from the tall branch that hadn't existed there moments before.

Sakura laughed, but held out his hands for Kawarama. The irritation melted off his face as he let himself fall into her arms, knowing with complete faith she would catch him.

"Are you sure you two just didn't want to show off a little in front of me?" she teased, helping him stand without wobbling.

"Sorry, Sakura." Hashirama claps his hands together in front of his face and bows his head. "We didn't mean for it to get so out of hand. We're not usually like this."

"We're worse," Kawarama hissed into her ear.

"It's fine," Sakura amended, unable to feel a throb of longing for memories about how the boys on team 7 used to fight with each other.

It was so different the way both sets of boys argued and showed their affection for each other in round about ways. The way Kawarama and Hashirama fought wasn't like how Sasuke and Naruto fought, or Sai and Naruto. No, the two brothers had their own ways of showing their love and hate. They weren't Sasuke and Naruto. Not even Hashirma and Madara fought the same ways. No one was Sasuke and Naruto but Sasuke and Naruto. The people she was with now were their own unique souls with differences and similarities alike.

That didn't mean she loved them any less.

"It's good to fight I think. It means you're honest with each other. If you're pleasant all the time I don't think I'd believe you were being honest with yourselves," Sakura said.

"Ah, then you should see me with Tobi nii, we're worse!" Kawarama laughed, blushing and smiling without shame.

"You're terrible," Sakura sighed, reaching forward to ruffle his ashen blond hair with affection.

"I love you too," he admitted easily.

Behind her, she heard Hashirama straighten and dust his robes before coughing into his hand. When he saw both turn and give him their attention he spoke. "Come on, it's time we start heading back. Dinner will not be long from now, and it would be good to have you there."

"Is Itama already there?" Sakura asked, falling into step beside the older Senju.

"Yes, as well as Tobirama, and no matter what the others may say I know he is also glad to see you awake. You know, he was one of the first to recognize you-er, I should actually say, he was one of the first to not recognize you after you were freed from the amber sealing pot. He could tell you weren't…you."

"He could recognize Kaguya," Sakura amended, looking down as she walked.

It made sense. Tobirama was one of the most observant ninja of his age, and he was famous throughout the eras for his sensory capabilities. Honing the mind for awareness of various chakras was a skill he cultivated from crude, basic perception, to a developed ability. It would make sense if he was the one who could see the differences between her and the rabbit goddess.

Maybe that was also a reason that explained the distance he kept between her and himself. Out of all the brothers, he was the least warm with her and the least excited to see her. When she asked to train all the Senju children in her garden, he was the one that wanted to run back home the most. Maybe, even back then, he could tell she wasn't what she appeared to be.

_'Then you should speak with him about it.'_

Sakura nodded, agreeing with the voice of her inner self. She should greet Tobirama, to be sure, but she should also seek him out and ask him about what he knew. It was time she heal the rift between them she had never known existed until now.

"What will be on the agenda for dinner?" Sakura asked, realizing they were walking towards the path that would take her to the Senju grounds and pass her gardens.

"Us, a few of the old guys…dad is probably too sick to get out of bed still, but the Uzumaki princess and a few of her retainers will be there. It won't be overwhelming for you, will it?" Hashirama asked, sounding nervous.

"The Uzumaki? I suppose that would make sense since they are…here."

Sakura felt suddenly off kilter, remembering the stream of fate that would result in Hashirama being married to one of the most skilled female fuujutsu users in history. She was young for marriage, and so was Hashirama, but that sounded like the way things were in this age. Sakura could have sworn though that the founding of the village came first. Maybe she had missed that too.

"Did you and Madara talk about an alliance during the time I was gone?" Sakura asked, tone turning soft.

It was a moment before he answered. "We thought about it, but neither of us thought it wise to attempt such a feat with the state of the world being what it is. But, with you awake and back here with us, we wanted to consul you about it. Madara is head of his clan, and soon I will fully inherit that same role for my clan. With our new positions we have the standing to attempt such a fete."

The voice of Inner Sakura is back with a kernel of truth. 'The Village Hidden in the Leaves isn't far from here, remember? It's one of the reasons you came here in the first place.'

"I think that's a fantastic idea. Soon, we must all talk about this together." Her words are a promise. "Soon."

They travel down and Sakura sees Itama from afar talking to someone dressed in bright colors. The swirl pattern on the sleeves reminds her of Naruto and she recognizes the man as a member of the Uzumaki clan. He notices their approach and waves but does not pull himself away.

Hashirama smiles politely to a handful of men and women who greet him as they pass. One or two make an effort to catch his attention and secure it, but he politely excuses himself for 'pressing business' to keep walking with his brother and Sakura to their home for dinner.

Sakura is not oblivious to the stares she earns. Even without the flowers in her hair, she knew she would be a spectacle coming into the clan. A few faces seem to light with recognition, others stare at her long hair and pretty robes. She's not elaborately dressed, but it's enough to gain the attention of a people not used to outsiders. The pink hair doesn't help.

Kawarama grabs her hand and tugs her to his side before Hashirama can and she's grateful for that. As innocent as it might be from Hashirama, she knows better than to flaunt any displays of affection when he's engaged to the red haired princess. It would be best if she put some distance between them before others misunderstand.

With that thought in mind, Sakura takes Kawarama's arm and heads her's through it, laying the opposite hand atop the place where they are joined, making it clear to those who watch them, that her role is not tied to the elder brother, but the youngest.

Kawarama beams in pride and Sakura doesn't look to see Hashirama's expression. She only hopes it's not too crestfallen to be something the UzumakiUzumakiUzumaki take notice of and report back to Mito.

"Finally."

Sakura looks up and sees Tobirama in the doorway to the home looking as stormy as ever with narrowed red eyes and a tight expression. His displeasure is mostly focused on his elder brother.

Hashirama laughs nervously in reply before scratching the side of his face. "Sorry, we got a little sidetracked and lost the time I think."

"You're a horrible liar on top of being late. Where is Itama, he should be here too?"

"Don't worry about him, Mito Uzumaki will bring him in with her when she arrives," Kawarama says, tugging Sakura along as he enters the house and forces Tobirama to stand aside.

Sakura looks at the second hokage and recognizes the face she had always looked up to in stone. He's older and more a man than before. The years have filed him down to the handsome angles he was so famous for among dreaming teenagers in history class. Sakura can't help but grin when she remembers being one of those girls, swept up in the thrill of romanticizing a figure from the founding era. Now he is in front of her, in the flesh.

He drops the scowl as he turns to face her and Sakura is delighted at the small smile he shares for her. "Sakura, it is good to see you well and healthy. I am glad you are out of bed so soon."

"Believe me, I've had enough sleeping for one lifetime. If I never nap again, it will be too soon," she jokes with ease. "It's good to see you too, Tobirama. You've grow up so much. I almost didn't recognize you."

"What, are there many figures with my complexion you could mistaken me for?"

It's a beat before Sakura realizes he is joking with her.

"You told a joke!" she gasped,dropping Kawarama's arm in surprise.

"Clearly."

"Is this a thing now, does he do this all the time?" Sakura hisses, looking to Kawarama. "Is this normal?"

Tobirama's smile falls away and he glares out of the corner of his eyes at his elder brother when he hears Hashirama snickering behind his hands. Before Hashirama can save himself, he's kicked in the shin and Tobirama is tugging the other two into the house with the suggestion to 'let the trash take care of itself.'

"Wow, I'm feeling bad for Hashirama now," Sakura says. "Two brothers in one day ganging up on him, when did all the bad blood start?"

"Nonsense. We adore our elder brother, this is how we show it," Tobirama says, expression back to being casually free and neutral.

"Yeah, and he's sort of like a dog. He's just happy he's getting attention." To prove his point Kawarama points to where Hashirama walks in, smiling big and not the least bit phased by the bruise on his shin under the fabric of his pants. "See?"

"Come on, the others will be here shortly. It's a small dinner tonight, I didn't want to make a show of anything," Tobirama said, leading them deeper into the home.

Sakura follows them in and at the table there are seats around the table that are reserved. Hashirama tries to offer her the seat next to him at the head of the table but she balks hard at that and goes further down to sit besides Kawarama. On her other side Itame will sit and then Mito who takes up the seat at Hashirama's right, as she should. Tobi starts to sit down next to his older brother but pauses before moving down so he is directly in front of where Sakura sits, leaving several open seats between Hashirama and himself.

"The elders have been asking to speak with you for a good long while, you might want to catch up with them over dinner," Tobirama explains before settling into his new place and ignoring the look of distraught he has inspired. Before Hashirama can say anything the room is opened and figures are filing in. Just as predicted, Itama is escorted by the fiery red haired princess who looks less than pleased to see Sakura sitting at the table with the rest of them.

'We haven't been introduced, she doesn't know who I am yet,' Sakura realizes with horror. 'I look like an interloper to her.'

"Mito chan," Itame tugs on her arm and gestures to Sakura before they sit. "This is Sakura, who I was talking to you about. I think you saw her earlier in the garden she founded. Sakura, this is Mito from the Uzumaki clan.

Their greetings are polite and Sakura is nervous like she hasn't been in years for reasons she can't understand. Something is off and she feels young and small all of a sudden. There are more members introduced and Sakura commits each new name to memory, already recognizing a few of the older Senju from when they visited her in the garden with Butsuma.

They are polite and kind and its as stiff as Sakura expect it to be, but she reminds herself that the Senju are important people and it is too much to hope for a quiet dinner with only the intimate members. She is grateful for what she gets.

"It is a lot of work, isn't it?" Itama laughs when the topic of a wedding comes up. Mito blushes prettily and Sakura sees her as a sixteen year old, not a looming matriarch. An upcoming wedding to a groom as handsome and famous as Hashirama is sure to make any girl blush.

"Is it?" Sakura asks, being polite in furthering the conversation. "How is that going?"

"It's going well, but the infrastructure of a foundational settlement that will support us when we are wed might take longer than a year to conceive," Mito sighs. "Settling here is one thing, but we plan on expanding."

"It would be best for the clans," a Uzumaki man agrees. "It's what we did in Whirlpool."

"What does that mean, are you wanting to start a village together?" Sakura asks, looking between Mito and Hashirama.

"A village would be a splendid idea," one of the Senju starts to say.

"But quite the undertaking," Hashirama interrupts in a stern tone. "Villages are more than stone and wood. We would need the economy for it before the first house is built. There need be more demand than just our own."

"Why?" the same Uzumaki man from before interjects. "If you build it people will come just to see that. The Senju are strong, they can keep people safe, and the daimyō of Fire will not deny us this if we bring it to him. He already owes us more than gold."

Someone cheers about the Senju and the Uzumaki making a great village on their own and Sakura feels a stab in her heart for her own village that might never be if left up to these men.

"Hashirama would lead us, and build the forest for the lumber. We would build the walls and it would be a strong and great fortress."

"We would not need to travel to trade with the merchants anymore. We could demand they come to us."

"A great village, indeed."

It is too much chatter for her to stomach so soon.

"A great village is more than a clan and his ally," Sakura says suddenly with a stern voice that takes even her by surprise. "Any village can be something two peoples put together between their clans through marriage, but you talk about greatness, my lords. A village that wants to be great should be difficult, should be a joining of people from different creeds and clans. There is no greatness in the lush of allies you did not have to compromise for, and forgive me, but I would wish for something more than mere greatness."

Her words sting and the Uzumaki closest to where Mito sits leans across the table and openly glares at her. "And what would you know of what lies beyond greatness? Your garden is not so grand a thing to boast of."

"You misunderstand me if you believe I would ever be the chief builder of such a legacy. I know what I lack, my lord, but that doesn't diminish the hunger in my heart for a world without war. I am famished for a peace between all people."

His bark is a laugh in her face. "You will starve."

"Maybe it is silly to hope for such a universal dream, but I know and believe in the ideal that all should be welcome under the banner of a great village."

"It sounds like inviting foxes into a hen house," someone else comments in a dismissive tone.

"It's only a hen house if you are hens, my lords," Sakura comments in a deeper tone, flaring her chakra in a way that might be rude if they realized it comes from her and not some inane element of nature. "And I don't think anyone could call us that, eh?"

"What would such a village look like?" Mito asks, speaking up. She holds a cup filled with red tea to her lips.

Sakura remembers it is not her place to construct anything. Her precious village will come about on its own thanks to Madara and Hashirama without her help. They don't need her words or her hands right now.

This helps her relax in her seat and deflate emotionally. Homesickness eats at her heart in new ways every day, but she will not be consumed.

"I don't know, but I think I will know when I see it. Maybe you and your groom will be the ones to fashion such a village."

Mito chuckles prettily and drinks her tea before setting down the cup. "I doubt that. It is Hashirama who will build a new village, but I will support Itama if he chooses to endorse his brother in it."

Sakura feels her thoughts derail. "Itama?"

Mito smiles over at the younger Senju and reaches for his hand even as her retainers muffle their groans of exasperation. "A year is too long before I can truly call you mine, my love," she says with eyes only for Itama.

"You're marrying Itama….and not…?" Sakura looks up at Hashirama and the implication is clear even if her words falter off.

Both Hashirama and Itama flush while trying to explain themselves, but it is Sakura that chokes when Mito leans in and kisses the younger Senju boy full on the mouth, much to the horror and embarrassment of her retainers. It's bold for any time, and the security she must feel to act so openly is a sign of her strength, Sakura thinks.

Itama melts under the kiss and deflates as Mito pulls away and glares angrily at Sakura. "Yes, I am marrying Itama Senju, and I will boast in it, so remember this."

She leaned in to kiss him again and that is when Hashirama stood to clap his hands and invite everyone into the garden for sake and desert. His words are loud but not loud enough to distract anyone from the way Mito's retainers dash forward to pull her off and restrain her forcefully.

It's later when wine and good food has softened the spaces between people that Sakura finds Tobirama relatively alone. He gestures to a bench that looks like one Hashirama or Kawarama grew with their wood release jutsu.

"I don't believe I've had the chance to properly welcome you back," he says, watching her take a seat beside him. "How are you adjusting?"

"I'm adjusting as well as can be expected. It was a shock to wake up and find the world so changed. You've all grown up so much. I never meant to be away so long.

"That is true, it couldn't have been easy on you, but you seem better adjusted."

Sakura muffled a groan. "Why, because I made a fool of myself at dinner?"

"No, that was Itama's bride. I'm sure the Uzumaki are speaking with her now, but I doubt they will be able to do anything to change her will. She is as fierce as they come, almost as fierce as you."

Sakura remembers the bold unfaltering way that kiss took place over dinner in front of so many witnesses without hesitation. It still made her flush in secondhand embarrassment.

"Not even I would be that brave," Sakura laughs.

"I won't doubt it," he answers easily before taking a sip from the sake dish he had been cradling. Once it is finished he sets it aside with no intention of going to fill it once more. "But I have a feeling you didn't seek me out for compliments. You have a question for me?"

Sakura doesn't bother asking how he knew. Tobirama was keen in ways that had only compounded since the time she last departed. She didn't doubt he could see though her if she tried to lie or deny it.

"It makes me a little sad when you say it like that, as if you don't believe I'm here to talk to you for the sake of talking to you and sharing in your company. Are we really such cold friends?"

He doesn't turn to look at her, but watches the rest of the scenery instead. "No, but even so, you must admit I was your least favorite and I loved you the poorest out of all of us. Who else can say they've stabbed you through the heart?"

"I really don't ever consider that," she says sharply. "You were a kid, I wasn't going to hold that against you."

"I don't mean it in a malicious way, but it's hard to compete with the others who so easily let themselves be loved and who loved in return. Even the Uchiha found it easy to treasure you, but if I'm least in your affections the fault is my own. You're seeking me out now because you have a question, correct?"

Sakura felt her mouth set into a hard line. "Maybe that's true, but I'm not going to ask it now."

"Why not?"

Instead of answering Sakura reached out for a tray of Sake left behind on one of the garden tables and brought it back to where they were sitting. She poured his cup and then poured one for herself before setting the jug down.

"How have you been, Tobirama? Tell me everything."

He watched her before his gaze shifted back to the liquid in his cup. The reflection was more of the sky and swollen moon than himself. It was a clear, bright night, the opposite of perfect for skulking business best left to the shadows. It was a night he could let himself relax into.

"You're more yourself now, I can tell. Sometimes you weren't yourself and that always bothered me. I never trusted you, and I still don't."

She waits, listening as he drinks and confesses.

"I can't compete with the others so I won't bother trying."

Tobirama drains the drink and set his empty cup down on the ledge of the chair before standing. There's no color to his cheeks, but there is a weight in his eyes that might have been because of the alcohol. It's impossible to know for sure.

"Tobi?"

"The question you wanted to ask me…I can guess what it was. If you wanted to know how I knew it wasn't you, how I knew about the thing inside you that you never through to explain to us. Well, it was something that started after we sparred in kenjutsu. I could always tell then, that there was another you to you and I didn't like it."

Sakura waits before replying. "I'm sorry I didn't explain it to you all in a way you could understand, but what I did and what happened to me wasn't something I felt willing to share with children at the time."

He still didn't turn around to look at her. "I'm glad I got to see her finally and know I wasn't crazy."

"You're not crazy," she chuckled dryly, feeling her body start to ache as she hiked her shoulders and held herself. A part of her wanted the earth to open and swallow her whole. She hadn't meant to lie to them. She hadn't meant to make Tobi doubt himself so painfully.

"Is she someone we need to fear."

"All mighty things should be feared, but I don't think she wants to harm you if that's what your asking. She had too many opportunities and too little reasons for such a mindset."

"You know her mind well?"

"More than anyone else?"

His lips smirk on their own. "Oh, that's not saying much, is it? What do you know of the god who is consumed by girls in war and who sleeps in trees?"

Sakura licks her lips and tastes the fermentation of her drink there. Her voice is lower and maybe a thread heaver from the drink that still clings in her throat. "She's lonely, she feels pain, and she will keep me safe even when I don't want it." Sakura looked up to Tobirama. "What else did you want to know?"

Finally, he turned partially to face her and the side of his face was highlighted in silver from the heavy moon. Even the whites of his eyes were sharper with bright reflective lights. Sakura felt pinned in place by his look. She wasn't terrified or even remotely frightened, but she was fixed in place and held still by a different feeling; curiosity. There was something to the way he watched her and saw her now that she couldn't decipher. There was a part of him she couldn't puzzle out, and maybe that did frighten her a little bit, but she always knew that it would be Tobi kun to grow up first and fastest. His mind was too keen to keep him a child for very long. Her heart hurt for  _that_.

"Maybe I could grow to trust you, and it's scary how easy that would be for me considering how much I want to trust you, but not  _her_." His tone lowered and switched from personal and friendly to stiff and formal. "I've see her sort before, and they're the sort that drag destruction behind them like a trailing robe. God or not, she's dangerous, and so are you."

"I've always been this dangerous."

"But have you always been  _you_?"

Sakura feels something close to fear as he turns back and walks away. It's not fear growing in her chest, but something related. A weight of dread burns with secondhand shame. She hadn't know she was thought of so poorly by the second eldest Senju, and it made her want to curl up and sleep the days away again.

She wouldn't blame him for what he felt. If he didn't trust her, fine. If he didn't like her, fine. She would be okay with it. He had the right to look at her and see a disaster waiting to happen. Heavens know she looked at herself some days and saw the same exact thing.

"They've really grown up, haven't they?" she whispers to herself, not knowing or caring who hears her.

'Welcome back.'

* * *

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN:(Remember what I said about slow burns? Yeah, I meant it when I said slow.)


	23. Chapter 23

**Under the Rabbit Moon**

* * *

Kawarama sat in the grass with his legs crossed in the sitting lotus style Sakura had shown him. Across from him she mirrored his sitting and their knees nearly touched. He had meditated before, but not like this. Could it even be called a meditation if he was focusing on something, trying to find something inside him now?

The falling came easier than he thought it would, but not easier than it should. Falling always came easy.

He opens his eyes and the world is a stone floor and darkness that swallows all else up. He turns and the bars are copper colored and twisted in and out of each other in a way he recognizes from being a part of the seal he wears on his skin now. Behind the bars on the other side there is darkness, but more than that, there is crimson fur and the rippling muscles of an animal.

The sight steals his breath for a moment before he remembers the bars.

"You," Kawarama calls out to the fox.

There is no movement from beyond the bars and Kawarama is worried his voice doesn't reach. He takes a few steps closer before remembering the warning Sakura gave him before they sat down.

'Watch his claws.'

The memory comes just in time to make him agile enough to jump out of the fox's reach when a oversized paw comes crashing down. He rolls out of reach and springs back up in a pop, gasping.

"Watch it! You don't know who you're swiping at."

"Dont' I?"

The huge head lifted up from the dim of shadows to angle in his direction. An eye as big as his body blinked open and he almost froze when he saw the slit pupil thin at the sight of him. The fox pressed his face to the bars and huffed loud and strong enough to blow Kawarama's hair away from his face.

"You look like one of those brats. Were you a sacrifice?"

"What?"

"A captive, then? I can't imagine anyone being stupid enough to try sealing me into an enemy, yet."

"Wh-no! What are you talking about, no. Don't you remember? You were sealed in me because it was my choice, my decision. It was to save my mom."

Kurama's muzzle lifted in wrinkles that showed off his teeth. They gleamed as he opened his mouth and laughed. The whole room echoed with the sound and it made the young boy want to iron out his skin for the way it crawled.

"For your mother, how rich that sounds. That's the first I've heard of such an excuses, but maybe human really do know how to be loyal to their own if it's for their mothers. Maybe I believe you, but why should I do anything more than that. I'll swipe and bite as I please."

Kawarama remembered what Sakura told him about being a little bit of an asshole and wanted to glower. This guys seemed like more than 'a little bit of an asshole.' How had she managed to learn his name and be friendly with him.

"I guess you don't remember how it went down, then. A freaky god lady with white hair and happy eyes had you tied up in glow gold chains and you were bound to her so easily. She's the one that sealed you inside of me so that Sakura could-"

His words were interrupted by the sound of Kurama's body raising and twisting sharply. Behind the bars he snapped his jaws loudly and twisted behind him, running off for a distance before dashing back. He did this several times before stopping to gnaw on the bars to his prison.

Kawarama watched on, wordless. It looked like the fox was suddenly desperate to get out.

"Let me out of her you cur! Let me out!"

"I'm not going to do that. The whole reason I'm here is to get you to work with me in some sort of peace. Mom said no one was ever nice to you but-"

"Shut up!" His voice was a boom that nearly sent Kawarama off his feet. "I'll eat you and tear you to pieces with my teeth if I hear you talk to me again. Let me out, let me free."

"Why the urgency?" he asked, adjusting his posture and crossing his arms over his chest. "You weren't gnawing on the bars two minutes ago when I first showed up. It was only after I mentioned how you were sealed away." As soon as the words were out of his mouth Kawarama realized how wrong they were. "No, it was after I mentioned Sakura."

The temperature around them turned sweltering as fire licked the teeth in Kurama's mouth. His eyes were blazing red as he glared through the bars. "You!" he growled. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything, but Sakura was being controlled by the god in her body and the only way that we were going to get Sakura back was if you were locked up somewhere safe. If it came down to Sakura or you, the choice wasn't very difficult, but sorry anyway."

"That bitch," Kurama hissed. "I told the brat not to trust a moon witch. She took her, didn't she?"

"Sakura still has Ka-Kaguya inside her, yeah."

"And what are you doing about it? You care so little for your world you would let that horror loose upon it inside the body of a brat girl that doesn't know any better?"

Kawarama felt his eyes widen as the surprise filled him. "You care about what happens to Sakura!"

The fox's tall pointed ears went flat instantly and the wrinkles of fur above his fangs doubled as he growled low. "Don't presume to see a weakness in me, cur. I would never care for a human, even if she's deserving of pity."

"Oh my god, you're even worse than Tobi nii, at east he'll admit he likes girls when we ask him. All you had to do was admit you didn't hate her, which is obvious that you don't."

His eyes flashed gold and then red again. "Cur." His voice was a rumbled warning that could be felt through the floors.

Kawarama felt in control all of sudden as he dropped his arms and waved his hands in front of his face. "Maybe you're not the fluff and cuddles type, but you at least like Sakura a little."

"Do not!"

Kawarama smirked. "So you don't care that Kaguya took over her body and made her do a whole bunch of terrible things that Sakura will never forgive herself for?"

"What happened?" Kurama stood up and the tails behind him were swirling like wild tongues of flame. "Let me loose, cur, and I will-I will-"

"Kawarama, where are you?"

The young boy watched with a wicked smirk as the fox's pressed down ears sprang up at the sound of the new voice before the rest of his body followed, switching from aggression to something softer, something eager. The wrinkles smoothed out and Kurama's eyes weren't nearly as angry of flashing as before.

"Sakura, I'm here!"

Kawarama called out, not taking his eyes off the fox. He didn't miss the way the fox's ears twitched, swiveling one way and then the other as it went back to laying peacefully on the other side of the bars. At the last moment it turned it's head away and closed his eyes, feigning disinterest.

Sakura emerged from the dim and shadows, smiling as she reached for Kawarama. She drew him up into a hug, echoing slowly. "I'm sorry it took me so long, I was a little distracted and that kept me from following you right away."

"What were you distracted about?"

Sakura pulls back and brushes some of his bangs out of his eyes. "Nothing too important. The Uchiha are coming back tonight and I told Hashirama I would meet them once they finished delivering the heads of the gold and silver brothers for their bounty."

"And that was more important that keeping me safe?" he teased her, expression mockingly dry.

Sakura whined, cheeks turning red. "I'm so sorry, Kawa chan!"

The sound of low growling drew her attention up. Kawarama heard as well as felt her intake of breath when she caught sight of the tailed beast behind bars.

"Oh yeah, that's the fox you were telling us about. He's sassy just like you said he would be." Kawarama grinned wide when he saw the fox's eye blink open just long enough to glare before closing again. "He's giving me the silent treatment now."

"You've not spoken?" Sakura asked.

Kurama's ears were straining, turned towards them and quivering slightly.

"Not yet, but I was going to start off by asking him about you. You said nothing but good things about him, so I wanted to know what he would say about you."

"There are more important things than that," Sakura chastised. "I'd rather you be kinder than that."

"I will, you don't have to worry, mother."

"Mother!"

Both Sakura and Kawarama looked up to see the fox's face lifted and pressed close to the bars. It's one visible eye was wide before realizing who stared at it. Glaring, Kurama drew his face back and buried it beneath his paws.

Sakura smiled wide and it wasn't lost on Kawarama how his ears quivered and lowered submissively at the sight of her smile. The nine tailed fox was almost as bad as his brother when it came to denying his feelings.

"Hello again, friend," Sakura breathed, approaching the bars close enough to touch their metal sides. It was closer than Kawarama had dared, but the fox didn't react to her.

"Brat," Kurama greeted.

"It's good to see you again. You're not hurt here, are you. Let me see." She reached for his face and he didn't react when she tugged on his lip and cooed at the blood around his gums. "You've been gnawing on the bars."

"I wouldn't have to if there weren't bars here."

Sakura's face fell and she lowered her hand to his gums, green chakra glowing at the site. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know she would do that. I had hope things would have gone differently."

"Sure," Kurama huffed. If he could have, he would have rolled his eyes. "I'm sure you're just heartbroken to see me locked up like this, aren't you?"

"I am."

The fox stared down at her.

"I'm sorry, Kurama," Sakura whispered, cheeks and eyes red with agitation as she swallowed something thick in her throat. "I'm…really sorry. I wish it wasn't like this, but more than that, I wish you didn't have to mistrust humans so much, because there are those who would wish well for you if they only got to know you."

"I am the mouth of death, pure chakra and destruction. Those who get to know me know death."

"You like to sound scary, don't you?" Sakura teased.

His ears lowered in submission again as he yanked his face away from her healing hands. "I will heal on my own. Leave me alone, brat."

"I wanted to introduce you to someone."

"I already saw the mini brat. He doesn't look anything like you." He huffed loudly. "…You never said you were a mother."

"I mentioned having boys, remember? Kawarama is the youngest Senju."

It looked back at her. "All the Senju are yours?"

Behind them Kawarama laughed loudly, holding his sides. Kara's hackles raised as he growled at the teasing sound. He snapped his jaws at the bars, over Sakura's head.

"Shh-shh, sorry for him, but Kawarama's not my…biological son. His birth mother died when he was too young to remember her and I've been…sorta like a mother to him since he was young."

Kawarama approached the bars, close enough to be bit or swiped at. "She's my mom because I chose her. Sakura's been my mom ever since before she saved me from death when I was seven years old. I'll do anything I can to protect her or make her smile, so don't tease her," he said, staring up at the fox.

"You're a brat just like her." He switched his gaze to Sakura. "I can see where he gets it from."

"He's just like me?" Sakura gasped, eyes dancing with happiness. "Really?"

"That's not a compliment! You're both brats."

But it was useless to try and bring down Sakura's mood after that. She was positively jubilant at the comparison and scratch the giant fox behind the ears where his secret places were. The beast calmed down right away and let her do as she pleased, closing his eyes and ignoring the rest of their conversation.

Sakura told Kawarama stories she knew the fox would be listening to. She told them stories about a boy and a fox and a smile as bright as the world that could take down anything and sway even the hardest of hearts. She told them about how that smile saved her.

* * *

When Sakura left the garden to travel down to the Senju settlement she had ever intention of speaking with Hashirama about the arrival of the Uchiha and the 'news' both clan leaders would be presenting.

The Uchiha had been busy and neither Madara nor Izuna had the time or chance to meet with her, but she was hoping that would soon change. Hashirama might claim to be selfish, but Sakura knew there was truly no one closer to him to his best friend and that eventually he would want Madara to be happy too.

She expected to find Hashirama. What she actually found was the feisty Uzamaki princess Itama seemed so taken with. Sakura had to bit the inside of her cheek to keep the grin from spreading too far across her face when she saw Mito. The memory of how she had declared her intentions for all the world to see still made Sakura giggle. Mito was adorable and Sakura had nothing but admiration for the younger girl, even if Mito seemed distrustful of Sakura.

"It seems the person I was seeking stepped away for a little while," Sakura said, easing herself into a casual tone as she approached Mito.

The younger girl had her hair artfully crafted to complement the shape of her baby face, already painted and preened like one would expect of royalty. When she turned to face Sakura she tucked her hands inside the leaves of her kimono and angled her chin upwards. Between the two of them, she was far more put together with makeup, hair, and robes of fine silk. Sakura had her hair simply braided back and wore an olive green yukata that might have belonged to a man judging by the loose cut. Sakura looked comfortable, Mito looked like a princess.

"You would assume correctly, Sakura san," Mito replied. Her tone was even and cut into perfect sounds for perfect lips. "Tobirama is acting on his behalf but he has stepped away to have words with others. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Are you happy?"

Mito froze, eyes going wide at the question. "I beg your pardon."

Sakura let her smile come out easy and sweet. "You look so happy, so young and in love. I'm a little jealous of you but very glad that Itama has found someone so passionate about him. He deserves it."

Mito schools her features back, but can't hide the blush coloring the high points of her face's cheeks. "Oh. I didn't know gods could get jealous."

Sakura laughed easily, letting her grin grow. "Nah, I don't think they do, but I wouldn't know anything about that. It's a pretty title, but I'll bleed as well as you or anyone else when my day comes. Don't believe the hype they speak to each other about things like gods and shrines."

"That's not very advantageous of you. Shouldn't you take advantage of your social status a bit more to further the goals of your precious people? Maybe you're not a god in the traditional sense, but Hashirama and Madara have been called gods of the shinobi arts. You're skilled enough for the name, but what do you use that skill for, exactly?"

Sakura took note of Mito's stance, the rigid suspension of her spine and hard angles of her elbows and arms. It was like Mito was chipped and carved out of marble for beauty's sake. She was holding herself to be a princess more so than usual and Sakura felt herself warm with a new understanding.

"Maybe you're right. I could have conquered and ruled if I wished, but that's not a desire of mine. Before I was a god I was a medic, and before I was a medic I was a girl that didn't know what she was doing with her life. But in being a medic, I grew into the sort of shinbone that would rather patch wounds than make them. My garden is good enough for that."

Mito's lips parted but it was a few seconds more before she finally spoke. "Itama might have said something like that when I asked him the same question."

"Itama is intelligent, but more than that, he's kind. He's a rare thing in this world, and I know he will make you happy as a husband." Sakura's smile felt melancholy as it fell off her lips. Itama was growing up. "He looks at you with such adoration in his eyes."

"He's a healer, but he learned that trade from you."

Sakura nodded.

"Why?"

Sakura looked off to the side and then up at the sun, frowning at the light that filtered through a handful of slow drifting clouds. It was sunny and bright out, but soon it would be too hot to linger in one place for long. Sakura could already feel heat under the collar of her cloth as she looked back over at the redhead.

"Will you take tea with me, Mito san?"

Mito hesitated, but eventually began to move, guiding Sakura to a house with a table set for tea. Sakura guessed it was the house the Senju had given her because a Senju woman cam in to set the tea set down and bow out, never once meeting their eyes.

Sakura waited while Mito began to pour their tea. It would be minutes before the green colored drink would be cool enough to consume, but that was fine. The girls had plenty to talk about.

"You have more business with me than you first assumed?" Mito guessed, hands folded neatly atop her lap.

"Maybe. I would like to think of it as less business and more…pleasure. I don't want anything from you, politically. Anything you could offer me I already have or could easily reach for with my own efforts."

Mito inhaled sharply, her eyes growing narrowed.

Sakura leveled the younger girl with a look that might have been part pity part teasing.

"I don't mean that in a way that should scare you. I don't have the motivation to take anything right now, least of all your happiness with Itama. That's the crux of this animosity, isn't it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Sakura rolled her eyes and reached for her tea, but it was still too warm to pick up. "No, I didn't think you would admit to it so easily, but that's fine. Let's talk of theories then. Let me dream a theory that a girl is hopelessly in love with a boy. This boy loves her too, but his personality is more reserved and he does not express his adoration as forwardly or openly. Maybe he looks away too much, ducks his head, stammers and hesitates. Maybe he doesn't do any of that."

"What are you-"

Sakura doesn't stop, but continues with her story. "The girl loves his so much she can't help but fear. That's what we do when we fall in love, we become vulnerable. To feel anything you must open yourself up for pain, and doubt is a set of teeth that slips in too easily to bite and gnaw. She's scared he doesn't love her with the same passion. She's scared there is a reason for it. She looks for this reason because she is capable and powerful and she didn't get to where she is in life at such a young age by not being aggressive. She will be a fine ruler one day."

Mito closes her mouth and leans back, eyes narrowed. She regards Sakura cooly, but she doesn't try to interrupt the woman anymore. If anything, Mito listens intently.

"She thinks she finds it, this reason that keep her lover from loving so loudly. There is no mother, but there is a person that comes close, a woman he speaks about often, a woman that helped shape him and support him. She's not his mother, she's like a mother, but not really. Maybe it's her, the girl thinks. But that's fine as long as this woman is gone. The boy has nowhere else to go…until the woman returns and suddenly lover has an option that isn't his bride to be. Maybe this is when she looses him like in the heartbroken stories. Maybe his love wasn't enough. Maybe…"

Sakura reaches for her tea and finds it cool enough to sip. She lets the heat of it slip dow her throat and warm her all the way down. When she opens her eyes again Mito it outright glaring. The skin around her eyes is red and her orbs are glassy, but there are no tears.

"The story is different, but once upon a time I was a girl in love with a boy and it didn't work out. I know the feeling well and I will not allow you to believe in it," Sakura says in a voice as old as it is soft. "Itama loves you and I will do nothing but support you. Don't think I am a hindrance here. I'm not his mother, but I'm also not your competition."

"How can I know that won't change one day? He grows older and stronger and sweeter, but you don't. What if one day he looks and sees you and…?"

"Then he was never worth your spit to begin with, but that's not Itama," Sakura cuts in sharply. "He would never do such a thing."

Mito's voice is a whisper. "How do you know that?"

"Because I know my children. He will not betray you, least of all to me. If that was something I was worried about I wouldn't waste my breath saying that. I'd tell you that I'd break his legs if he did such a thing to you, child of mine or not. I don't look kindly at oath and vow breakers."

"He loves you though…I can see it."

"He does, but there is more than one type of love in the world. I love him and Kawarama and Tobi and Hashirama. Once upon a time I loved a boy and thought I would marry him one day. Once I loved a teacher fiercely enough to die for him, even though he seemed to always be the one saving me. I even loved a boy better than myself, but never wanted to kiss him or make him mine. I've loved much and long and hard in my life, and it is never the same twice."

"I don't know how I can compete with that," Mito softly admitted, reaching for her tea to hold between her cupped palms. Her eyes were downcast along with the rest of her. The girl on fire with so much love for a boy she didn't care who saw was finally vulnerable.

"There is no competing. He's capable of loving more than one brother, one woman, one family. His heart is big and he will love all, but you will be the one he takes refuge in. You will be the woman he loves best. Believe in that, Mito. Believe in him like you believe in your own love for him."

The redhead closed her eyes and there are glittering tears caught on her lashes. "I love him so much."

"I know."

Her voice wavered. "I don't want to be my mother."

Sakura didn't know what that meant, but she hummed soothingly before saying, "You are yourself and no one else."

For a long while nothing else was said and Sakura drank the rest of her tea. The sun moved across the sky as the two girls sat in the silence and wrapped themselves up in it like tired bodies draped in warm cotton. Neither seemed to want to leave it.

Sakura poured more tea for the both of them and took for herself a cookie, watching the world through the window in the wall. She didn't move when Mito reached for one too.

"You said you loved a boy once," Mito finally said. "What was that like?"

Sakura remembered the hand in her chest and the taste of a blade in her skin. "It was terrifying."

Mito leaned forward. "What was he like?"

"He actually looked a bit like Izuna. He was beautiful and all the little girls adored him at that age, but I think I cared for him more when I saw how hurt and broken he was as a person. I thought I could fix him because I loved him so much. I didn't care if he came with scars or wounds." The truth of what she spoke made her close her eyes. "I loved him."

"Did he love you too?"

_'Annoying.'_

_'Thank you.'_

Sakura felt full of memories, too full to stand it anymore. Sasuke hadn't been a concept she entertained in a long time. It was almost always team 7 as a whole, team 7 as a unit, her boys, her family. Sakura couldn't remember the last time she thought of Sasuke in isolation.

"Maybe, but I think before he died I didn't want to be his wife anymore, just his friend. Now I doubt I'm capable of loving anyone like that."

Mito sipped the rest of her tea away. "Is that why you said no to both the Seju and Uchiha clan heads when they tried to court you years ago?"

Sakura grinned and it was soft and tired but a grin all the same. "What would you have done?"

"That's a lot of power and luxury to say no to."

"Not when you outclass both of them."

Sakura laughed, not minding if she sounded haughty. It was true. Both men were strong, but she was stronger as long as she still had Kaguya on her side.

"I think that is one of the things I admire most in you, Mito chan."

The redhead looked up, eyes wide with surprise. "Mito chan?" she echoed in confusion.

Sakura's smile stayed in place. "I love how you chased your love so bravely. You didn't compromise but followed your heart. It's rare to see and precious when you do. Never stop being who you are, and I will defend your heart's desires until the day they're no longer desires of your heart."

Sakura stood and bowed before exiting the room and turning down the street to finish her business for the day.

Alone in the room, Mito sipped the rest of her old tea and mulled over her new thoughts.

* * *

Sakura stood outside the main house, she had slipped into the innermost courtyard and was facing the screen doors that led to where she knew Butsuma slept. She had not been asked to see him and thought that odd, considering she was famous as a healer before she had ever screamed about being a god. The boys knew she was a healer, one of the best.

No one had asked her to look at their father and she felt sick for suspecting why.

She walked up to the door knowing that Tobirama was truly away, and Hashirama was off site. Mito was with Itama after their tea and Kawarama was training with his new source of chakra far out in the wild places, safer than ever before.

No one stopped her when she rolled the door back and stepped in.

Sakura saw the bed behind the rice screen and approached cautiously, not surprised to see the old man asleep on his bed, eyes closed, breathing even and deep. She pulled up a chair and set it down at his bedside before examining him more keenly with her eyes. She would inspect him with chakra next, but just from his physical appearance she suspected what she would find.

His skin was thin, wrinkled, and paper colored. He looked older than when she last left, older than four years should have made him with thick streaks of silver through his hair.

Sakura inhaled the scent above him before pulling back the parts of his robe to see the bandages across his chest. When she pushed chakra into it she didn't flinch at the contamination of toxins in his blood from the wound. He was slowly dying.

Removing the toxins was not an easy thing, not after years of infection, but Sakura knew she could do it if she had to. It was just so unusual to see a wound like this so ugly after so many years. The Senju were supposed to be better at healing than this. Why had it gotten this bad and stayed this bad so long?

Sakura didn't pull her hands back when she heard the new body come into the room.

"You didn't tell me it was this bad," Sakura said.

Tobirama swallowed before answering. "We didn't want to."

Sakura inhaled again and pushed more of her chakra into the wound before pulling her hands back and stepped away from the body. Her posture was stiff with resolve.

"He won't die tomorrow, but he won't wake up tomorrow either, not as long as that toxin is present in his body. I can remove it, if you want me to, but I don't think you will since you've been putting it there for years."

Tobirama didn't say anything, didn't move, didn't blink. He watched her, and when she moved to approach him he let her, following only with his eyes.

"Hashirama makes a better clan leader," he finally admitted. "And this way, father will feel no pain."

Sakura hated how she felt. There were too many waves of emotion fighting with each other inside of her. She felt guilt and shame and hurt and anger and fear all at once. She didn't want to pretend she knew what the right thing to do was, especially since she knew that Tobirama was right. Hashirama was best for the Senju-history proved that.

Still….this was wrong and she felt it in her gut. This could split the brothers if they knew, if they learned what Tobirama did to their father to keep Hashirama in power. Maybe they would agree, some of them, but Hashirama never would. He would feel responsible for it all and that guilt would never leave him.

"Your father will die from this. Can you live like that, knowing it was your hand that brought him down, not an enemy's?"

"Father was not in his right mind towards the end of his active life. To me, he truly did die that day. This body is empty."

"Then why do you continue to administer the poisons?"

"To keep him from feeling the pain of waking." Tobirama watched her with his eyes but stepped to the side of her and approached the bedside of his father. At last he blinked and looked down at his handiwork. "Even if he roused now, the bulk of our clan would still follow Hashirama, I believe that. However, if father were to awaken now, just as brother announces his intentions to join with the Uchiha, you can believe that some of our members will be tempted to deviate and bolster anew under Butsuma's famous hatred. Now, more than ever, I need you to pretend you never saw this or pretend you couldn't do anything for him."

"Tobirama, I-"

" _Please_."

His plea came out hissed and sharp as he bowed his head and hiked his shoulders. Sakura couldn't see his eyes and doubted he wanted her to. There were long shadows from his hair hiding the details of his face.

"Please."

Sakura looked down at the body of the old man in bed and shut her eyes. She knew she couldn't keep this secret, it would devour her daily. It was too much and would hurt others too much. But she couldn't bring strife knowingly into the Senju clan at such a sensitive time. The fate of the future of the Village Hidden in the Leaves rested on these new peace talks.

'What do I do?'

_'Find a way to win._ '

When Sakura opened her eyes and looked up at Tobirama he was watching her. She could feel his eyes on her like a physical gaze wasn't soft like Hashirama's or Kawarama's, but it was honest and clear in a way that was all his.

"Will you trust me?" she asked, remembering what he told her last time, about not trusting her or the goddess that lived inside of her. His words were fresh in her brain.

"Do I have a choice?"

Sakura reached to roll up her sleeves.

"No, you don't."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment and let me know what you thought please!


	24. Chapter 24

 

Mito looked up, hearing the footsteps in the hallway. A moment later the rice screen door slid to the side and Itama was there, standing in the threshold. He saw the teaser and his eyes widened a fraction before he fumbled with an excuse about not knowing and going when her voice stopped him.

"It's nothing to worry about. I'm done, you're not interrupting anything."

Itama looked to Mito and his eyes narrowed fractionally. "Are you okay?"

The redhead flushed, but didn't flinch like she thought she would. Itama was getting better at noticing things about her. It should stop surprising her when he called her out on things no one else did. He was going to be her husband one day.

"I'm fine, why would you ask such a thing. Get inside and close the door, don't stand there so indecisively forever," she said, waving her hand at the wrist to usher him in.

Itama did as he was told, sliding the door shut behind him before crossing the room and sitting down at her side, across from the empty tea set. He glanced at it only once before pulling Mito into a comforting sort of hug and tucking her under his chin. She let him and he pushed his luck to press a kiss to the crown of her head.

"You seem a bit lost in your thoughts right now. Is there anything I can do to help?" he asked.

"I said I'm fine."

"Mmm, yeah you did, but people can need help while still being fine, can't they?"

Mito grumbled but snuggled her head into the crook of his shoulder and inhaled deeply.

All the Senju boys smelled like wood in one way or another, but to her, Itama smelled like summer on the water. He was sharp to her senses and she loved it. He made her feel safe, which was a new thing to feel. If she had been with any of the other Senju boys her father favored, she doubted she would be this comfortable with them. Itama was stronger than her, but he wasn't a god of the shinobi, he was a healer and he was healing her piece by piece.

"What are you doing here?" she asked after a while.

"I came to see you. Why you have to ask?"

"Why now?"

Itama pulled back a bit to look her over. "Is there something odd about my timing? They said you were free."

"I am. I just finished having tea with your illustrious Sakura sama." Mito turned her face away to look at the teacups and purposefully miss the expressions crossing his face. "She was quite pleasant."

Without words, Itama reached for her hands and stopped her from picking anything up. He held them until she turned and faced him. His eyes were full of knowing and it made her crack a little bit more.

"In this world I have no mother. She died when I was too young to remember her well. Sakura is the closest thing I have to a mother in my life and to Kawarama there is no difference, Sakura is his mother and has been since she saved him from Death."

"I know that," Mito whispered. Her voice was barely there.

"She is a precious person to me, but she is not a woman I am in love with. I love her, but it's not the same thing and it's never going to be the same thing." He smiled and his tone turned lighter. "I'm not my brother. Hashirama is someone you could worry about, but I chose to ignore him for the most part."

"She's fantastic."

Itama stilled and stayed quiet, listening to her.

Mito licked her lips and went on. "She's like a mountain, I don't think I could possible move her in anything, but she's still just a flesh and bone body with feelings that can get hurt too. It's not fair. If you feel hurt like that how can you be so…so strong and admirable? She was even kind to me."

Itama grinned and reached to kiss her knuckles in comfort. "That sounds like her. She doesn't look it, but she's pretty old and like a grandma on the inside. Oh, don't tell her I said that, she might get offended."

Mito chuckled. "I think she'd find it funny."

"I love you, you know that, right?"

She stilled, hearing his words. Her heart swelled her chest and she wanted to try and escape from what she thought was a powerful genjutsu, but at the same time there was nothing she wanted to hear more than exactly what she was hearing right now. Mito wanted to stay in her beautiful dream, not matter how real or unreal it was.

"I love you too, Itama." Her hands shook but he still held them. "I'll love you forever and never stop loving you. That's a promise."

* * *

Tobirama brought her the bowls of water when she asks for them, and sat patiently at the back of the room with his legs folded under him; his palms rested atop his thighs. He didn't move to a seat more comfortable for the duration of the hour Sakura worked on the cut, drawing out purple toxins in globs of liquid.

When the hour was over and she was done, that is when he finally stirs. Sakura let him approach but doesn't leave the side of Butsuma while Tobirama looks on. It is minor, but already there is a change in the color of his skin and and the lines of stress on his face.

"When will he wake?" the second eldest son asked Sakura.

Sakura moved to take the dirty water and carry it out on her hip to toss onto the soil outside. "That is not something I can tell you with any level of certainty. He might not wake for days or hours. He might not wake at all. No one could predict such a thing, but I'll say that I feel it will be soon. He has a strong spirit."

"He's my father," Tobirama replied, as if that would explain everything. "He is a Senju."

Sakura spoke enough Senju to know what he meant. "I think he'll wake soon. I won't stray far and I'll be here when he wakes. You may be a bit disturbed so don't feel you have to force yourself to be here."

His expression was a mess that didn't know how to organize itself. Tobirama was a man who was used to being in control of his feelings and hiding them. It was rare for him to look so vulnerable and transparent. He was torn between heart and duty and Sakura could see him suffering from the guilt of his struggles. It was so rare to see, that Sakura actually passed on the threshold and stared for a while.

Tobirama sat in the seat beside the bed and buried his face in his hands. Sakura peeled her eyes away and hurried to dump the bad water. She lingered outside, waiting to give the second elders Senju brother a few more minutes alone with his father and his feelings. She could ask him what he planned to do next when he was a bit more put together. Her questions could wait.

Butsuma wasn't in any danger. Tobirama had plenty of chances to do something with his father as feeble and weak as he was. The toxins he had used on his father had been more to keep his father in a comatose state and less to hurt or harm the old man. All other signs told Sakura Butsuma had been taken care of and cleaned well for the months and years he was asleep in his bed.

It made her think of the old years, when they were all kids and Butsuma was offering them up to Sakura so easily. Tobirama hadn't wanted to leave his family and clan to live in the garden. He was the only one who seemed to love his father so dearly, or at least respect the older clan head.

Tobirama had always been the hardest one to figure out for Sakura, and also the furthest from her emotionally. The connections she had with his brothers were all stronger, leaving her a little lost on how to treat him now. He wasn't a boy anymore, he was a man as old as she was when she first traveled across the universes and worlds. Sakura still felt seventeen on the inside most days, which was his age now….or was he still sixteen? When was his birthday again? It was hard to tell when he acted like he was thirty.

How far past sixteen had she been when the world ended in a pit dug out by war? Had she been sixteen or seventeen? Suddenly it was blurry. The details slipped through her fingers like the grains of rice.

With a panic Sakura's mind scrambled back as far as it could for a shred of family, her mother and father, for a shred of her found family, the boys. She could remember them. Ino, Tsunade, the others from her past came back to her in varying levels of detail. But it was almost as if summoning them was the metaphorical lighting of a match to a trail of gasoline. Summoning the memories started to burn those memories, until Sakura was grasping at splotches. She couldn't remember her mother's eye color, or the way her father smelled. Other memories stuck, she didn't think she would ever forget the power of Naruto's smile, but….

Sakura covered her face with her hands, forgetting how they were dirty. She wanted to close herself off in darkness for a moment and remember home. Naruto came easily and she followed him in her memories under the shade of a canopy of green, between the trunks of overgrown, red bark trees.

'I won't forget you,' Sakura mentally promised, standing on the other side of the gate to their village. Her dead boys were on the other side, watching them in their own ways. They were perfect and at place inside the village, even Sasuke for how little he actually lived in it. Somehow her memory felt right when she thought of her boys in their village…a village that didn't exist yet.

That was a problem that Tobirama was working on, wasn't he? Hashirama and Madara were far friendlier in this version of reality. They were younger in this version, but they were already starting to talk about peace and village settlements with real promise. The Senju even had another clan vouching to finance much of it. If things were allowed to continue as they did, then the Village Hidden in the Leaves would rise with a lot less blood in her foundations.

_"Hashirama makes a better clan leader…"_

Tobirama was no fool. He knew what he was doing and he knew that while his hands were deep in sin, it was the sin with the most fruit. The toxins hadn't been to kill his father, only keep the old man trapped in a comatose state for an indifferent about of time, but one wrong dosage would be enough to slip free that last thin tether to life keeping Butsuma among the living. In addition to that, Sakura wasn't sure that Tobirama was aware of the fact that other complications could come up and lead to a miserable death in bed for his old man. There was plenty of risk that could end with Tobirama being a father killer, or worse, a clan head killer.

Sakura wanted to ask why, but knew better. She may not have known Tobirama as well as she knew Hashirama or the other brothers, but a part of her understood him better. It was the same part of her that was stuck as a sixteen year old shinobi taking orders she didn't like for the sake of a greater good; the good of her village and her village's future.

' _You would have done the same thing in his shoes,'_  a voice spoke.

Sakura wasn't sure if it was her inner or Kaguya. Regardless, it was right. Before she had been the god of the mountain she had been the tool of her village.

But Sakura wasn't Tobirama, she was more than just a another shinobi in the ranks, she was also a medic, and that didn't change with the addition of Kaguya, but made all the change in the world.

Sakura looked up and saw the sky was colored in twilight shades. She had been working on Butsuma for a couple hours and now the day was gone. Hashirama would be coming back with the Uchiha soon. Sakura was looking forward to seeing the Uchiha boys. It had been too long since she woke from that deep sleep. She wanted to see how Madara filled out this time around, and what Izuna would look like as old as he was now. Izuna had reminded her of Sasuke before, so maybe he looked like an older Sasuke.

Sakura ran a hand through her hair, feeling the strands that flew free of her bun in a messy way. She did't look that great, not like how one would expect a priestess or goddess to look, but Sakura didn't care. She turned back towards the house and entered, setting side the old bowl she had just emptied before also reaching to pull up a chair and sit. She leaned back, crossed her arms, and closed her eyes.

"I'm not going to do anything to him now," Tobirama said, eyes closed. His voice was little more than a whisper between the two of them.

"I know you won't."

He lifted his head a fraction. "Why are you staying?"

Sakura yawned once before sinking further into the chair. "You think I need a reason like that to be here? What about you? Don't you feel lonely?"

Tobirama scoffed and looked up with a clear expression of disagreement. "Absolutely not."

Sakura cracked open an eye long enough to see his reaction, but let her lids close a moment later. She shrugged in response to his claim.

"Okay, maybe you don't feel lonely and maybe you don't need someone else in the room with you. But, is it too hard for you to consider the fact that there is someone who cares about you enough to think about staying, or do you not believe in that apart from your brothers?"

Tobirama schooled his expressions back into another perfect mask. "I'd believe you're capable of such kinds for Hashirama or Itama and Kawarama. I haven't forgotten what I was like to you back then."

"You should. I told you to."

"I'm the one that didn't listen, remember?"

She couldn't help but let a smile slip free. "I remember well enough, don't paint yourself the villain so swiftly."

"Those who don't listen to you are villains, then?"

His tone was part teasing and two parts biting. Gone was the mask of indifference he wore so well. In his voice were real feelings raw and bare.

"I didn't mean it like that, but I apologize if that is how it felt to you back then. I hadn't thought of it explicitly until recently, but I probably caused you a lot of worry and anxiety as a child, didn't I. You were wise to trust your gut. I never meant you any harm and never will, but I think there is some truth to your fears that I hadn't been wanting to confess."

He lifted his head incrementally and that was all Sakura got as a sign of encouragement to continue.

"I don't think she's going to hurt me, and I don't think she wants to. For all I know and have seen, all Kaguya wants has nothing to do with world domination and cruelty, but instead has only used her power to benefit me in some way, regardless of if I consent. She's taken over before, but…the results weren't so bad."

"But she can," Tobirama said, baring her teeth almost. "For something as old as she claims to be, what's a decade of acting in the long con?"

"It's a fear I've had long before you, trust me," Sakura sighed, closing her eyes. "I've been crippled with that anxiety; that one day I'll wake up and she'll be in control doing terrible things to me again, or worse, terrible things to others that I'll have to watch and live through."

"And you've not attempted to expel her for the sake of power?"

She couldn't read his tone in that comment, but Sakura opened her eyes and found his before answering.

"Understand this," she said in a soft tone. "I have lost far more to the devil in my bones than you will ever understand. My family, my world, my life were all taken away because of a war she was at the root of. I crawled to her sealed caracas and consumed the acid of her body because I wanted to die, because there was nothing left."

Sakura had admitted all this to herself, but admitting it to Tobirama was a new sort of liberating; like confessing sins, her words seemed to mean something as soon as they left her mouth because he was there to hear them.

"I've lost count of the times she's stopped me from killing myself, so believe me when I say I understand your fears better than anyone else. There is no way out of this bed, so I will lie in it and I will be glad for it because Kawarama is not a corpse There are some things we can not escape, so we find what peace we can and deal with the rest with the strength and resolve we have."

She looked pointedly to the wrinkled old Senju sleeping soundly in the bed. Tobirama followed her gaze and his lips thinned into a long line of pressure before he dipped his eyes again. His hands were clasped tight enough to turn his knuckles white.

"I will not make excuses for myself and I will face the consequences when they come."

Sakura huffed, leaning back into her seat once more, trying to get comfortable. "Sure, if you say so."

His head picked up again and his red eyes were narrowed in her direction. "Don't think I'm only saying this because I'm afraid you would tell the others on me. I'll speak the truth because it's the right thing to do for the clan. Brother is free of blame, he will not have to suffer for this and hopefully it will be enough to maintain the stability."

Sakura knew exactly what he was saying without saying directly. Stability during the storm that was a Uchiha alliance and the founding of a brand new ninja village wasn't something that came without ruffled feathers.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that when Butsuma wakes up."

"Why? Are you going to entice him to peace with what sway you think you may have over him. He's old. He'll have given up on pursuing a wife so young and strong, no matter how real or fake that torch he carried for you was."

"It wasn't real at all," Sakura snorted. "It was playful and political, but that's all beside the point. I don't plan on saying anything to your brothers, so you can feel free to address them with your own confessions, but Butsuma won't be problem."

"You sound so confident."

Sakura closed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, finally comfortable in her seat. "You'll see."

Hours later, after the sun set and the dinner was set out for them to get cold at the door, Butsuma stirred. Sakura was asleep in her seat, eyes shut, posture slack and turned into itself. Tobirama stood first and was at his father's side in an instant. The lights were low but Tobirama could see well enough with what little was lit for him.

"Oto san?"

The old man in the bed turned towards his son and blinked. His eyes were bleary from sleep and disuse, but they focused well enough after another moment. They were wider and clearer than they had been in years, seemingly lighter.

"Is that me?" Butsuma asked in a voice that was almost childish.

Tobirama stilled at the side of his father. "Father, do you….recognize me?"

The old man blinked some more and reached up with his free hand-the one not trapped in a death grip of Tobirama's own making-to pat his son on the cheek in a cheerful pat. It was soft and affectionate, two things Butsuma had never been.

"Of course I would remember my boy. That's me, Oto san, yes. My boy, look how big you've grown. What a tiny tot, not a tiny tot no more, no." He chuckled in fully belly laughs meant for cute old grandfathers and men lucky enough to live without hard fear.

Tobirama was lost. He looked up over his father to where Sakura sat, still asleep in her seat. "What did you do to him?" Tobirama asked in a tone that wasn't angry but something frantic all the same.

Sakura slept on and he was left without an answer.

"Is that food I smell?" Butsuma asked, wiggling around in his bed. "Oh yes indeed, I think it is. My, I'm terribly starved, my boy. Would you do Oto san a big favor and not let him waste away?Food please."

The request was so innocent and cheerful. Numbly, Tobirama rose to do the bidding of his childlike father, gathering the food left at the door and setting the tray down where Butsuma could reach for it. The old man's motor skills left some to be desired, and Tobirama had to help out, but he didn't mind. Butsuma rambled as he ate, talking about everything and nothing. At one point he paused to gawk curly at the 'pretty girl' in the seat that was sleeping.

"What's her name? What's her name?" Butsuma begged.

"That's Sakura…she a friend of our family. She helped you when she was sick."

Butsuma hummed in appreciation. "What a lovely girl. That was awfully nice of her. You're friends?"

Tobiram felt himself nod, ashamed of how tight his throat felt. "Yeah," he whispered to his father. "We're friends now."

* * *

Hashirama returned later that night and as the rest of the boys piled in, no one noticed Sakura slip away, no longer faking sleep. She returned to her bed in the garden and slept, feeling warm in her heart for more than one reason.

She was glad for the Senju and how they had found this happy peace with their childlike father. The toxins in his brain hadn't been completely filtered out, and it was a gamble, but Sakura was glad for her decisions in hindsight.

But that hadn't been the only reason her heart was warm and light. In the morning Hashirama was bringing the Uchiha party to their territory for peace talks. He had mentioned it before becoming wrapped up with their father and it was enough to make Sakura almost jerk to attention and blow her cover.

Tomorrow, Madara and Izuna would be where she could reach them. It was happening, she was finally going to be able to see the rest of her family again. She was going to be able to see Madara and Izuna.

 


	25. Chapter 25

 

 

* * *

Sakura woke all on her own, smelling the sunrise in the air as the sky started to burn somewhere far off with faded yellow light. The rest of the sky was as dull and soft as blue could be. She inhaled, running both hands through her long, long hair. Her fingers came away with tangles but she didn't care. She hadn't slept deeply enough to consider her sleep restful, but there were worse fates. Her heart still hurt at the thought of seeing the other half of her boys.

She turned back towards the gardens, folding her arms inside her robe's long sleeves and saw several women awake and about. One of them stopped and smiled at Sakura before ducking her head and hurrying with the harvest in her basket. Another girl stopped and waited for Sakura to approach. Though older, Sakura recognized the pretty blond Usagi chan that Itama had once been boyishly in love with.

"I thought I might wait to wake you, but if you're already up would you like me to start?" she asked.

Sakura blinked owlishly before finding the words to speak. "Start what?"

"Getting you ready for your appearance, of course. You'll be presented officially to both clans for the peace talks today! It's a big deal and you'll have a seat of high honor and so many eyes on you. Don't think we're going to let you go into that looking like you usually do!"

Sakura flushed. "What do you mean how I usually do? What's wrong with how I usually look?"

"You look like one of us, a normal girl, or worse, a vagabond sort of careless woman. You're not allowed to be so careless this time! If you're a goddess dress like one." Usage narrowed her eyes at the crown of Sakura's head. "We'll have to start with your hair."

Sakura meant to use her words and earn a way out of Usagi's cunning stare, but before she could move far he felt hands on her shoulders. Behind her Rei and Rita stood grinning, dressed in their casual clothes and not the nurse robes they wore tied up around the arms.

"You running off somewhere, teacher?" Reid cooed sweetly.

"Not before we show you our thanks," Rita cheerfully added.

Sakura didn't fight it when they tugged her one way, but gave up early and followed them to the house both girls shared at the center of the Garden, closest to the operating huts and recovery clinic. Everyone else lived along the outskirts where the long term therapy houses and the residential areas were.

Sakura vaguely remembered growing their home for them back when the garden was still young enough to take in hopeful healers and train the few that applied. The homes had been a bit rougher back then, but the girl's home was one of the nicer ones. It was a lot different interior wise, but then again, it had been four years since she last saw it all.

"Miko already prepared things for this," Usagi said, pointing to the back where a bath was situated in a room with a mirror and stool not unlike the set up Sakura renovated her own home with. "Soak first, then we'll move on."

Sakura huffed, but show off the girls on her shoulders and disrobed without prodding. With a giggle, the friends gave Sakura a few minutes to saturate herself in waters thick with eucalyptus leaves and some other sweet smelling flower. It wasn't long before they came back with combs and oil bottles meant just for her long hair. The pair parted her hair down the middle and each took one half to comb and lather.

"This feels a little excessive for the pampering I deserve," Sakura grumbled, catching a blossom in her palm.

"Who else would deserve such reverence, than the goddess of the mountain who has saved lives and championed peace for years? Men inherit power or they seize power, but few souls deserve power. We're lucky to be where we are right now. The world will change and we will tell our children we were there to see it," said Rei.

Sakura didn't move her head, but her eye swiveled back. "You two planning on having children?"

Rei kept combing but Sakura felt Rita still with her comb halfway down. The taller girl glanced to the side, swallowed, and continued combing.

Rei spoke first. "It's a thought. Why do you ask?"

"I remember building this place and helping you two set it up. There's only one bed now." Sakura dropped the blossom back into the water and watched it float away. "But if you both do decide you want to have children naturally, let me know and I'll be able to help you with that if you don't want to include a man."

Rita really did stop combing. "Sakura sam-Ss-Sakura, you're not, you're mistaken. It's-"

"It's not my business to judge," Sakura interrupted. "Nor is it anyone else's. You're not the first two girls in love and you won't be the last two. If you want to keep this to yourselves because of the world we live in I understand that. But, please know that you can come to me if you have any need. I've worked with women who had infertile husbands and I've seen pregnancy from that."

The combing picked up again, but Sakura heard soft giggling, so she didn't feel the need to say anything more.

Sakura dried of and let the pair of girls braid her hair intricately and then coil the top half into a flowering bun pierced by decorative hair sticks that looks like jade. When Sakura asked where the decorations came from she got a handful of answers, all of them vague.

"The offerings at your shrine, mostly, but some of them were from those boys," Miko said, standing in the doorway. It made Sakura look up for the first time and grin wide.

"You took too long, old lady," Sakura laughed.

Mike approached and flicked at Sakura's nose before adding a final comb into the hair to keep it in place. "You're quite rude this early in the morning. This last one was from Tobirama. He brought it by this morning. So now, you have something from each of them in your hair. He was the only one who hadn't left something behind."

"I didn't know you were keeping track," said Sakura.

Miko touched Sakura's face with the tip of a brush and Sakura responded by shutting her eyes and letting the older woman paint her face. "Aoi was actually the one keeping track. He thought it was a bigger issue than it was, but that's my husband for you. I'm sure he will be pleased to hear you've finally swayed Tobirama to your side."

"There was no swaying. It was just a gift."

Rei hummed from beside the vanity. "Maybe, but what sort of gift?"

"I always thought they were courting gifts," added Rita.

Sakura suppressed a snort. "They're kids!"

"Itama is the second youngest out of all of them and he's already engaged. That's typical. Many girls are engaged as young as thirteen you know. I mean, I'm noticing more and more growing up a bit more before making those decisions or having those decisions made for them, but it's often after the first bleeding."

"Boys are a little more lucky," said Rei.

Mito huffed at the younger girls before dipping her brush into something new. "Not always. Too many of them are making families before they're ready to lead anything. I wasn't Aoi's first wife, after all. But, by the ages of those boys, I'm surprised not more of them have been married off for alliances. It's a sign of peace that they're as they are." She pulled away and there were no more brushes of Sakura's face. "You can open your eyes now."

Sakura looked and saw herself in the small mirror and recognized someone else. The face starring back was the goddess of the mountain, fierce and beautiful.

"Once you're dressed someone will take you down and you'll leave with the Senju party to meet the Uchiha on their own grounds," Miko said.

Sakura stood from the vanity in her undergarments and smiled when she sensed the chakra at the edge of her senses. "No need, he's almost here. Let's get those things on then."

She was tugging on the collar of her Kimono when Kawarama knocked on the front door, followed by his voice calling out impatiently, "Auntie, they said Sakura was here!"

"Which one is auntie?" Sakura whispered conspiratorially to Miko as both Rita and Rei rolled their eyes and went to answer the door together.

"Depends on the day, but both of them will answer to it. It's impossible not to love that kid."

"Sakura!"

She turned at the sound of his voice and saw him standing in the doorway with a wide smile and wider eyes. She smiled slowly, feeling the paint of her lips making them heavy. "Hey kid, what took you so long?"

"I was waiting for the old lady to finish getting ready," he teased back.

"Oh really, well I was waiting for the little brat to finally show up."

He laughed, crossing the threshold and stoping just short of reaching her. "You'll have to wait a little longer cause there aren't no brats here."

Sakura ignore the constraints of her dress and reached down to gather him up into a hug. Mike huffed loudly and then said something about the make up smearing, but Sakura didn't care. Holding onto Kawarama felt like the most perfect thing in the world.

"My mom is the prettiest person in the whole world," he sighed when she pulled away from him.

"Did I ever tell you that you were the cutest?" Sakura laughed.

"Not nearly enough." He waved his hand in front of his face and took a half step back. "We thought we could walk you down but I guess if you're all dressed up we should ride down."

"We?"

Kawarama scratched his cheek and chuckled. "Uh, well, I don't know if I can do it, but I think if it's for you he might be willing to try it this time."

Sakura had a feeling in her gut she knew what he was talking about but she still knelt down so she was looking up into his eyes. "You mean Kurama?"

It had only been a handful of days with him talking to the nine tailed fox and already they were at this stage? It made her think that Kurama wanted a friend to work alongside more than he let on. Unfortunately Sakura hadn't qualified.

"I'm trying to summon him, or at least physically manifest his form. I told him it would be how he gets out of his cage but he was pissed because he would have to go back. So far he's fought back every time."

"That sounds like him. Want to try once more outside. If not I think there are some horses."

The pair headed outside to a clearing away from the white bark trees that grew in clusters every so often. Sakura waited with her arms crossed inside her leaves while Kawarama concentrated and began to go through the hand seals. There was blood on his fingers. He finished on a verbal cry and Sakura felt the flare of chakra disturb the air and grasses around them.

Nothing happened.

"Come on you stupid fox! You're making me look bad," Kawarama grumbled, going through the hand signs even faster and trying again. The result was no different.

Kawarama looked back over his shoulder at Sakura, eyes downcast. "He's laughing at me."

"That's fine. You're still just getting to know each other so I would expect it to take time. You'll get there together. I believe in you both."

"But it was going to look so cool if we could ride a tailed beast into the meeting looking like the most awesome people ever. It was going to be more impressive than anything my brothers rode in on. Itama gets to share a cart with Mito and both Tobirama and Hashirama nii look badass enough in just their armor."

Sakura felt a pang in her heart and hated how it was because of something so petty. Appearances weren't worth much, and the politics of a good entrance were annoying all on their own. Sakura didn't care if she had to walk and dragged her hems through the dirt for it, but Kawarama was still so young and impressionable. Things like this mattered to him in a way she couldn't relate to, even if she understood it. Naruto had been the same way.

"Are a couple of horses no good?"

"It's fine," he grumbled, not meeting her eyes.

She could create something, she supposed, if she had enough imagination and the aid of Kaguya's chakra, but what? She wasn't as creative as some people gave her credit, and creating anything she already knew about felt like stealing. She had always had a small seed of envy for Kiba and his partnership with Akamaru, because who wouldn't be jealous of a boy that rode around on a huge fluffy dog that liked to cuddle?

"Do your brothers have any summons of their own?"

He shook his head. "Night of them have contracts with summon animals, but Hashirama can summon gates."

"Rashōmon gates?" Sakura remembered Orochimaru being able to summon those and hearing about how it was a technique originally attributed to the first Hokage, or at least that was what Kakashi told her.

"Yeah. Can you summon anything?" he asked.

Sakura looked up at the sky and remembered Tsunade when she answered. "I have a contract with the slugs, but while they're some of the most competent medics in the summon worlds, they're not the most impressive to ride in on. Has your brother been working with you on your wood summoning techniques?"

"Not as much as I would like, but I guess he's busy with running a clan, why?"

Sakura made her hands slow as she went through the different hand signs, ( _Snake, Ram, Hare, Dog,_ ) channeling chakra. "Mokuton: Mokuryū no Jutsu!" _Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique_

Out of the earth twisting wood spiraled up in rough patterns that shaped into scales. A maw stretched wide open and its eyes blazed with her chakra.

Kawarama gaped. "That's….pathetically small, mom."

At their feet sat a roaring wood dragon with crude angles, wriggling around their ankles. It was barely bigger than the average weasel. In addition to it's pathetic size, the design was crude and not as smooth as Sakura had envisioned. Her wood release needed more work.

"Well, I didn't want to use too much chakra, and really, it's not important how we look. I just wanted to show you the basics of it. Pretty soon you'll be able to summon your own dragons."

"Will they all look as pathetic as that?"

The tiny dragon roared and darted forward to bite at his ankles, something that did no damage. Kawarama shook it free and it broke apart upon impact. Sakura frowned at the remains.

"Not unless you practice. No, let's just get those horses before my child makes me feel any more pathetic than I already do."

When they arrived down at the base of the mountain where the Senju settled, Mito was the first one to do something with Sakura. Before proper greetings could be exchanged Mito sent off one of her handmaids to retrieve a wide stray hat with a long gauzy curtain designed to protect Sakura from the sun. Mito had her handmaiden fit it carefully over the girl's hair with a lecture on preserving beauty and a woman's pride.

Sakura couldn't hide her wide smile, so she pushed back the gauze just enough to say, 'thank you Mito chan.'

Mito flushed under all her own make up and then muttered something about girls in the family having to stick together.

Hashirama was held hostage by the elders and unable to greet them, but Tobirama slipped away to see to the procession where Sakura and Kawarama would come in last, trailing behind Mito and Itama's cart, that in turn followed behind Hashirama and Tobirama's steeds. In between each major part there would be two Senju or Uzamaki guards for a total of six guards. It was a small procession, but it felt enormous to Sakura.

"Your father will not be joining us?" Sakura asked, looking down from her mount to where Tobirama stood, arms crossed, armor polished, expression stern.

At the mention of his father some of his stoniness melted off his expression. "Ah, he will remain behind in the care of several of our elders and their children. No one is in a hurry to restore him to power and Hashirama was officially recognized as the Senju clan head last night. We're keeping that news to ourselves and posturing like Hashirama was our leader all along. If anyone asks, Butsuma is content in his retirement."

"And is he?" she asked in honesty.

He squinted, trying to see through the gauzy net that obscured her face. "He…is. He's oddly content, unlike I've ever seen him, but I know it's him somehow."

"Some of the poison was still in his brain, so he won't remember everything and some of his emotional responses might be juvenile."

"Might be?"

Sakura made a gesture with her hands, palms face up. "It was only a prediction. I wasn't sure how much or how little of his old self would remain. It's always different with everyone. I've seen enough cases to know that much."

"Regardless…it's the most peaceful solution I never dared hope for. It's…unfairly kind that he be so unburdened by the sins of his past."

"I'm glad you see it that way. You could have just as eerily interpreted my actions as cruel."

Tobirama exhaled a short breath.

" _Hardly_ ," he said in a slanted sort of tone that made her think he was being something close to sarcastic with her. She wasn't used to reading Tobirama as well as Hashirama or any of the other Senju boys.

"If you're ready we're getting in line to depart," Itama called from the steps of Mito's ox pulled cart.

He grinned at his brothers before pulling himself in the rest of the way and turning to sit down beside his bride to be. Kawarama tugged on the reins of his steed and moved to follow along behind the cart. Sakura grabbed her reigns as well but a hand on her gainers made her pause. Tobirama was there.

"I don't know if you believe me, but thank you." His eyes were searching, trying to see through the curtain to her face.

Part of her smile showed through the part in the gauze curtains. "You can't tell, but I'm wearing the comb you gave Miko this morning. Don't think you have anything more to be so grateful for. "

She tugged on the reins and urged her mount ahead to join Kawarama in line. Her hand slipped away from underneath his without another word. Tobirama watched her go, feeling the tingle beneath his fingers long after their contact had ended. His fingers flexed.

A little while later, he ducked his head and followed to retrieve his own steed and follow alongside Hashirama.

* * *

Madara felt even more tense as he watched his younger brother fret back and forth. It really wasn't fair, considering how Izuna was considered the prettier of the two of them. He didn't need all the extra creams or powders or oils he thought he needed. He was being a bit unreasonable about it all.

"I'm sure she doesn't care that much," Madara huffed.

Izuna paused to glare back over his shoulder before looking back to the brushes laid out on the table. Each one was readied with powder for his face, reducing glare and softening edges. Earlier his eyes had been lined in red paint, only for that to be washed away and replaced with black khol. That had also been washed away in favor of a clean 'unpolished' look.

"Really, you think she's going to care if you're a little more pretty than normal? You don't even end up looking that different with makeup."

"You're an oaf, you wouldn't appreciate art if it bit you in the ass."

Madara snorted. "At least you're a bit more lively. Do you need more time, or am I going to greet them at the gate myself?"

Izuna's hands had been hovering over the brushes but froze at the words. He became a statue until a heavy sounding cough from Madara shook him back to awareness. He dropped his hand back to his side and bent over the vanity. There were a myriad of emotions dancing across his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but then he turned his face away again.

"I will greet her-the whole party-at the manor. You may greet her on your own at the gates."

"You sure?"

Izuna glared back over his shoulder. "Of course I am sure. Why must you ask me to confirm each of my decisions as if I were a child who did not know his own mind? I'm not a child anymore. I don't look like a child anymore."

Madara hummed a note of knowing. "Ah, is that it then? You want to look all grown up for Sakura?"

Izuna grabbed an empty jar and flung it back over his shoulder at Madara with enough force to be dangerous. Madara caught the jar easily in one hand, but laughed at his reaction never the less.

"Shut up, brother."

"You look fine. You're all grown up, mostly. I mean...not as much as me but, you're not a kid."

"She hadn't changed at all. When I-we last saw her, there wasn't a change at all. She hadn't aged in that world, but she's still..."

"Out of your league?"

Another jar flew through the air and Madara caught this one as well with a laugh.

"I'm joking, I'm joking, brother!" Madara moved to put the jars on a side table and leave them there. "I can tease you about so few things anymore, you can't blame me for teasing you about this. I'm nervous about seeing her again too."

"You don't seem it," Izuna grumbled.

"I am, I just...don't worry about it. I know it's still her. Hashirama said she's doing well and I know he would have told me if something drastic had changed her. I'm more looking forward to just seeing her again. Who else will talk to me without cowering or kissing but?"

"Hashirama," Izuna said quickly, reaching for one of the brushes and examining the hairs. "At least you have that idiot to talk freely with."

"Yeah, but like you said he's an idiot. I value him and I think of him as fondly as I do a brother, so I wouldn't want to trade him for anything, but you understand how it's not the same, right?"

A tone of iciness crept into his voice as Izuna answered. "No, I wouldn't, because I do not have a Senju brother replacement friend that I can call upon whenever I fancy."

Madara felt uncomfortable, but kept up his smile. "You're friendly enough with the younger one...Itama."

"Friendly is not the same as friend." Izuna reset the brush down. "Plus, he is engaged. What have I to talk with a spoken for man?"

Engagement was not a topic Izuna took lightly, considering how progressive the elders were with pushing young Uchiha women into Izuna's path. It had gotten worse after hearing about Itama's engagement. They had even gone so far as to sneak women into the younger Uchiha's room in the night to try and 'encourage' Izuna to take up an engagement...or at least prove to some of them he wasn't gay.

 _'What I was that age I was with tat least two dozen different women. What's wrong with him?'_ Some elders would say.

_'Kids aren't what they used to be. Don't they know they could die any day? They need heirs as soon as possible.'_

"It's not like a person changes who they are after they are engaged. You used to get along well when you were both studying medicine. I'm sure he'd be excited to hear about you work with toxins."

"He's a healer, I'm a fighter. Even with the gifts she gave me, I couldn't emulate that vision." Izuna set his hand loudly down on the table. "Brother, are you going to say anything useful or are you here only to distract me. I have a lot to do in a little time. Leave if you're only going to be a bother."

"You say I'm a bother, do you? You're starting to sound like me with Hashirama."

* * *

The travel was slow going, and it felt even slower when Sakura realized how excited she was to see the Uchiha brothers again. If it had been up to her, she could have made the trek in mere minutes, but it was over an hour by the time the red arches of the Uchiha main gate came into view.

The heavy wooden doors had been spread wide open, and in the center of them stood a long figure with his arms crossed over the red breastplate of his armor. His hair was long and wild and for a moment Sakura wasn't on the back of a horse ready to see an old friend. For a moment she was back on the battlefield beside Naruto and Kakashi, ready to die for either of them. She remembered in a moment, taking a metal pole through her side as he laughed and then being frozen with fear, unable to help more.

The horse under her panicked and cried out, stamping in place as he sensed her unnerved chakra. He was a war horse and he was sensitive to the changes of it's rider.

"Sakura," Kawarama hissed, reaching for her reigns and drawing even. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

There were other memories that came after those terrible ones. Memories of a tiny boy grumpy and jealous of his best friend's attention. Memories of that same boy growing up and softening. Memories of that boy catching her using her strength all alone. Memories of teasing him into learning a new jutsu.

Sakura came back, flattened her chakra, and steadied her breathing. "Nothing, I…I just remembered something from a long time ago. But, I'm here, sorry."

"Is it Madara?" he guessed.

"He's all grown up," Sakura covered. "I almost didn't recognize him."

"He's not _that_ different. His hair got unreasonably long though. At least his brother keeps it tied back. Seriously though, what shinobi would waste time on such a vanity?"

"Your brother," Sakura snorted.

He made a face that almost made her laugh. "Yeah, well you remember the bowl cut. His long hair now is the lesser of two evils."

"Agreed."

Hashirama called out to Madara first and the two exchanged playful banter that ended with Hashirama in near tears of self pity that his best friend would be so cruel, only for his closest brother to follow it all up with a chastisement about maturity.

"Enough of that now, hurry up and come inside so we can close the gates. They're already upset enough with me that I've held them open this long all on my own. My younger brother is waiting inside to receive you all. Come on," Madara grumbled, waving them along while glaring distractedly at the tail end of the procession.

"Something distracting you?" Tobirama dryly asked, tone too level for his question to be meaningful.

"Where is she?" Madara asked, eyes never leaving the end of the procession. He was backing up with the front of the line as other Uchiha ran up to close the gates and then take the steeds. Hashirama and Tobirama were the first to dismount.

"I hope you won't be as mean to her as you were to me," Hashirama pouted. He stepped down and drew up alongside Madara, crossing his arms over his own armor. "You've gotten rude in your old age."

"And you've gotten dumb."

Madara watched the cart stop and waited for the people inside to dismount. His arms unfolded and he stood a little straighter as Itama emerged and then turned around to let a lady down. He deflated only a bit when he recognized the Uzamaki princess.

But then the two tail horses rode up and Kawarama and a veiled woman defended. Madara caught sight of muted pink through the gauze and his heart stopped for half a second. An Uchiha approached her to take the reins of her horse but she didn't wait for him. She left her horse behind and ran as much as she could in her fancy kimono and launched herself at the eldest Uchiha. He saw a flash of her smile through the part in her gauze and then felt her strong arms lift him up.

"Sa-Sakura!"

She laughed and the hat tipped back. She let him down just as the straw hat fell away and the gauze with it. She smiled up at him so brightly it was like all the colors of the world had been made more vibrant by being a part of her. It was hard for him to breath.

"It's been too long, Madara. You've gotten so big I almost didn't recognize you," she laughed with a voice that sounded like bells in the sunlight, tinkling in his ear.

His cheeks felt wet and he had to step back and feel his face to believe there really were tears there. "Not fair," he whispered in a strained voice that was too many years too young for his body. "You're too much."

Her smile didn't lessen, but it did soften. "I missed you too."

Hashirama pat Madara on the shoulder once in encouragement when Sakura opened her arms for another hug. Madara didn't hesitate and this time he was the one that picked her up, not caring who saw.

 


	26. Chapter 26

Izuna worked on his hair, watching his face in the mirror as his silk strands were decorated around the knot at the peak of his skull hours earlier by one of maid women. He had been a little snappy with them and knew he would have to go back and apologize later, but they had seemed to only delight in his agitation, giggling behind their hands at the way his face flushed with color and voice wavered with emotion.

He pawed at another strand and dragged it over his shoulder until it slid down like a black snack in front of his chest. He tried this again on the other side and then brushed both strands back to compare one style with the next. He looked a bit too polished the first way, and seemed more natural with all his beautiful hair trailing behind him.

What did Sakura prefer?

He heard movement outside and the calls that sounded when men at the gates spotted people far off. It made his heart choke and his breath still for a moment before functions returned back to normal and he was stiffly moving his body back to the mirror to look himself over. His hands were cold all of a sudden and he could feel the heat of his face when he thought of how soon it would be before they saw each other again. He only had one shot at this.

The most of an impression he would have on her, visually, would be today. He would show off to her how much he had changed and grown in a single moment. After today they would be together all the time and she wouldn't notice the changes as much. Today…today she would be able to see him as a man for the first time…hopefully.

He wasn't a child anymore. He had grown up splendidly and was proud of the features that other women would fawn over and lust for. His ego suffered terribly for it according to Madara, but Izuna knew that if his brother cleaned and cared a little more that it wouldn't be much different for him.

"Madara is handsome too, but in a rugged, hard to approach way. Izuna, you're the exotic prince from fairytales that all the girls want to be a part of your harem," his make up tutor had told him honestly.

Originaly his tutor had been one of the many women snuck into his sleeping quarters to try and seduce him in his sleep, or worse, but he had been momentarily fascinated with the way she painted herself for a night that should have been, as the elders said it, 'hot and steamy.' Instead of beating her back or scaring her with spinning red eyes he had asked her to teach him, and she had accepted.

Her honest friendship was valued in a way Madara would never understand. She taught him of the patterns men followed, how they were too easy to manipulate if you knew what they wanted. She thought him how politicians made decisions and how to sway verdict in your favor when you're at the table of the daimyo as a nobody. She had taught him how to dress to attract eyes and how to paint his face to keep people frozen in wonder.

"I could teach you other things too, my prince. Are you sure you're not interested?"

The memory left a bad taste in his mouth, more for what he had said and less for what she had said.

"How do I make a woman happy?" he asked Kagome.

She spread her robes wide and taught him other things.

A knock on the wood frame beside his door made him startle out of his musing and Izuna looked up, away from the mirror. There was a shadow bent low and waiting at his door.

"Speak?"

"The caravan is in sight. Your presence is requested at the main house."

"And my brother?"

"Still at the gates, danna sama."

Izuna huffed, looking back to the mirror and finding no fault in his appearance. "I will go to the main house then. You are dismissed."

Izuna heard the footsteps as the man stood, but then there was no more sound as he had taken off with all the stealth Izuna would expect of an Uchiha. His outer robes hung on a frame and Izuna tugged those one, appreciating the copper red threads that made the phoenix design stand out all the more. When receiving men of importance Izuna liked to don something that reminded them how dangerous the clan could be, and him in particular.

He could hear the first wheels of the carriage drawing up into the compound and the sound of mounts tossing their voices with their heads in agitation. They were close and Izuna feared that Sakura would be at the front seeing everything first even though he knew she would be kept towards the back because she was not a part of the Uzumaki party that the Senju were still formally courting. Manners dictate that the engaged princess not be shown up.

"Brat," Izuna muttered under his breath.

He didn't like the thought of Itama's new bride, though he would admit to knowing very little of her apart from reputation. As long as she made the kid happy then it was okay because he had nothing to do with that, but when she became a part of their politics Izuna grew agitated. She was demanding and bossy in a way he wasn't used to.

What was worse was that Madara thought she was perfectly charming and entertaining just the way she was. The again, Madara was also bossy and uncultured when it came to such things. The two of them were a funny pair.

"Danna sama."

Izuna stopped on the walkway, heart pierced with a needle of fear before he swallowed and remembered himself. Without turning his face he stared down at her from the corner of his eyes.

Kagome smiled prettily with brushstrokes of white powder across her face that Izuna recognized. She was pristine and as wonderfully presented as she had been the day she momentarily memorized him. He didn't doubt that was no accident. She was dressed for attention and painted for perfection.

"Hn," Izuna let his eyes roll off of her. "What is it?"

"I've been invited to sit at the Uchiha's head table for this," she chuckled behind the fabric of a purple fan.

"Interesting, seeing as how you are not an Uchiha."

She fluttered her lashes playfully and stopped just behind him. "The Hagotomo are the Uchiha in my eyes as well as the eyes of your brother. We've been officially absorbed into the clan with all the rights and privileges."

"You've never cared about that before."

"Ah, well, the woman who murdered my father has never dined at this table before."

There was ice in his veins. "You will receive no warning. Raise your eyes in a way I perceive as even remotely threatening and I will sever your neck from the rest of your body."

"I am not a warrior, my lord. You need not warn this humble vessel of such obvious things," she replied with an easy smile that was lacking in fear.

Izuna wasn't sure if that was because of the make up, or because Kagome really was that sly and fearless. She was crafty like a serpant, but she wasn't stupid. She wouldn't do anything he would kill her for. He didn't need to worry.

He took his spot up at the top of the stairs to the main house and could hear the procession coming in and stopping, thought they were just out of sight around a corner meant to be a strategic advantage in defending or so he was told. He could only see it as a disadvantage as he heard his brother talking to the eldest Senju. They were far away enough that he couldn't make out exactly what was said without chakra, but he heard and recognized the shape and sound of her name.

Then it was her laugh, he could hear it better and more clearly than everything else. He wanted to melt into that sound. She sounded so happy to see his brother again and he heard enough of the scuffle to guess what was going on.

"What a brutish woman," a male Hagotomo elder huffed, crossing his arms and closing his eyes.

Izuna flared his chakra in warning and the older man stuttered to lower his arms and bow his head.

"No disrespect meant, danna sama."

"Hn."

He hadn't expected the Hagotomo members to be overjoyed at the thought of seeing Sakura again, considering how many she killed last they met, but he expected them to be a bit more reverent or fearful in her presence. She had been no less terrifying than a god when she tore apart their would be assassins. Years of restitution was earning back some of their social standing, but Izuna would knock them all down as quickly as he liked if they stepped out of line once, especially around her.  _They_  were the reason she left all that time ago, not him.

He heard his brother laugh and was happy for the sound. Madara was happy like this for so few things in life. It made him giddy for the next moment.

The crowd rounded the corner and he saw her right away, hands up adjusting her hat with the veil and grumbling about how Madara had made a mess of it. Madara was beside her, eyes tight with mirth and joy as he watched her. Izuna didn't miss the moisture there and didn't blame Madara for it a bit.

"Senju san, welcome," Izuna greeted in his best authoritarian tone. He lifted his chin with authority and crossed his arms into the sleeves of his phoenix jacket. "We are pleased to see you well."

Hashirama was at the head of the procession and he smiled like a ruler would when he raised his hand to greet the elders welcoming them. He opened his mouth to speak with authority for the rest of his party.

"We are most gracious for the opportunity to meet with you like this on such an-"

"Izuna?!"

Hashirama stopped speaking and smiled like an exasperated father when he looked back over his shoulder at where Sakura stood alongside Madara. Izuna was pinned in place even though she could barely see the details of her face through the veil. Behind her shoulder Madara grinned and Izuna saw him tap Sakura on the shoulder and whisper something.

'That's him.'

Izuna cursed his brother

Sakura tore off and crossed the space between them in a handful of steps, leaping up the whole of the stairs at once, robes trailing like feathers as she touched down in front of where he stood, now a half head shorter than him, and threw back the veil over the brim of her hat. He saw her eyes, as wide and beautiful green as he remembered them being, sparkle with joy as she opened her mouth and laughed.

She reached for him and his hands fell out of his sleeves as Sakura took him into a hug as powerful and all encompassing as he remembered them being. He had aged, grown up, filled out, and gotten bigger, but her arms still wrapped around him and folded him into her like a mother would a child.

Izuna surrendered to it, grabbing desperately with his own arms to pull her closer and keep her there, where he could bury his face in her neck and crumple a little into her touch. He forgot about the paint on his face, the color around his eyes, the way he wore his hair. Sakura was in front of him, alive and hugging him and that's all he could imagine caring about.

"Izuna," Sakura breathed, sounding like she was crying as she spoke his name into the back of his head, where his hair muffled her voice. "You've grown so much. I almost didn't recognize you when I saw you. Oh," Sakura pulled away and grabbed his face, looking up at him with eyes wet and shining. "Look at you."

"I can only look at you," he heard himself answer. He was warm all over and felt like someone had spilled all the honey in the world into his heart. He was safe and happy and more in love than ever before.

Izuna grabbed at one of the hands holding his face and turned to kiss the inside of her palm.

"I'm so glad you're safe," he whispered.

Sakura laughed and dropped her hands to his shoulders, sliding them down to his elbows and holding him there. She moved back far away enough to see him better and he realized she was almost as finely decorated as him. She was neat and pressed and painted too.

A cough over his shoulder made him freeze again.

People were watching.

They weren't alone. He had forgotten that part almost as well as Madara had when he ended up crying in front of Sakura. Izuna turned hard again and glared over his shoulder with eyes so black they could have been red in the right light. The other Uchiha elder spared him a baleful look, unfazed by the young man's Uchiha glare. Being a Uchiha himself he was probably used to it, though the other Hagotomo were leaning away from him.

"We are all pleased to see the members of the Senju party in good help. Shall we proceed with the formalities, young master?"

Sakura chuckled nervously. "I apologize, that was my error. I've forgotten myself again." Her cheeks were flushed with pretty color as she started to step back down the stairs. She slid her on hand down his elbow to his hand, gave it a playful squeeze that promised they would speak later, and then she desended the rest of the way to stand next to Kawarama.

Madara was stepping away from the group with a happy smile and climbing the steps up to his brother. When they passed he said something playful in her ear that made her chuckle. Izuna couldn't remember seeing his brother so playful before.

"I don't think there's any fault or reason to apologize," Madara said in his best voice, the one reserved for leading. "It's hot and the sun is merciless. Let us go inside and be served refreshments. Come, friends. Introductions are best done over meat."

"Only you would say something like that, Madara same," the same Uchiha from before sighed.

The old man looked at Izuna in disappointment, likely blaming the younger brother for not leading them better. When Madara was in charge things were messy and casual. Most days Izuna hated that, but today he couldn't get himself to care. He was too happy to mind much of anything.

"Yes," Kagome said with eyes fixated on Izuna from over the edge of her purple fan. "Let us retreat from this dreadful sun and get to know one another. I am…most eager."

Izuna almost scowled, remembering what it meant when he realized he hadn't been alone with Sakura just moments ago. The Hagotomo woman's eyes were alive with mischief in the worst way, so he hung back and let her go ahead. He kept himself at the back of the entourage. It was as close as he could get to Sakura who traveled in the back of her own party.

Unfortunately, that meant he was trailing in beside his least favorite Senju.

"Uchiha san," Tobirama intoned, nodding his head in the direction of Izuna.

Izuna narrowed his eyes but smiled as he returned the gesture with a nod of his own. "Senju san. You look well."

Tobirama grunted, easily uncomfortable with the small talk that Izuna had mastered all on his own. In a terrible way, it delighted Izuna to make Tobirama uncomfortable. Out of all the Senju, Tobirama was the least likable and in Izuna's mind, he deserved to be uncomfortable.

"I am so pleased to see that your party has arrived safe without complications," said Izuna.

"Yes."

Izuna went on. "Although, I would have been terribly surprised if you had encountered danger on the road that could give you trouble. You had Sakura with you, after all. Who would stand a chance against her?"

"…Yes."

Izuna took great delight in the way Tobirama struggled to respond. The Senju's red eyes were darting for an escape, but the hallway was a straight walk and they were nearly there.

"I'll admit to being filled with a bit of envy. We've been so busy here I haven't had the chance to come out and visit. You've been selfish in keeping her all to yourselves."

Tobirama looked a cross between panicked and stunned, but his voice was the most monotone thing ever. "Ah…y-yes."

"Ma, ma, what things you admit so easily, Senju san. If you knew you were being selfish you should have shared. I know it was a burden on your part since you've never been the most comfortable with gods and what have you, so I'll do you a favor. Neh?" Izuna cheered, eyes alight with false cheer.

Tobirama was a lost cause.

"…Yes."

The party filed into the main house's larges dinning room with three separate tables set up. At the head table the clan heads all sat. The Uchiha brothers, Hashirama, Tobirama, Itama and Mito as well as pair of Uchiha elders and someone from the Hagotomo faction of the clan.

A spot had been set up for Sakura close to where Tobirama was meant to sit, but Izuna came in and led Sakura away to the seat that had been reserved for Kagome, loudly stating that Tobirama had guilted him into such a favor. He said that the Senju had been bewitched easily by the dark haired woman and that Kagome's seat was now beside Tobirama. With wiles as skilled as her's, Tobi wouldn't stand a chance.

Izuna didn't look over or acknowledge that side of the table, but instead made himself useful in fluffing the cushion for Sakura and helping her down. When she was seated he didn't let go of her hand.

Sakura sighed in good nature. "I almost feel guilty when I see how panicked poor Tobirama looks. I'm pretty sure he doesn't know what to do right now."

"Then don't look at him," Izuna chuckled, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. He smiled wide when she looked back over at him."He's had you since you woke up, let me have at least tonight."

Madara leaned over and rested a hand on Izuna's shoulder. "Yes, you're as much an Uchiha guest as a Senju guest, but tonight is our turn. Stay on our side of the table, okay?"

"Ah, don't think you have to twist my arm," Sakura laughed. "I've missed you both too much to deny you this."

Izuna heard himself laugh and caught himself, blushing at the lack of control. "It's been far too long since I've been able to see you like this, awake and alive. I'm so happy right now. You wouldn't believe it."

"I think I might have an idea. I've missed you both so much."

Madara smiled, glancing down and then scratching at the side of his face. "It'll be much nicer to have you around. I'm going to insist on something as a clan leader and be terrible about framing it politically to ensure I get what I want, but I'm extending an invitation to allow you to stay with us for the next week, in our compound. You've been with the Senju all this time and some of the elders are upset about that. Will you consider it, Sakura?" he asked.

"I don't need to. There are no pressing emergencies at the garden I can't reach from here, so I'd be happy to stay a while. There are also a few Uchiha I would like to try and find to check on their condition. I've not been able to help with their eyes in years."

"Perfect, we even have an excuse for the Senju," Madara said before turning back and grinning at Hashirama. "You think you'll survive?"

Hashirama huffed in agitation and glared playfully at his friend. "I think we'll manage, but I'll be checking in quite regularly, remember?"

"Not fair, we didn't check in on you when Sakura was around," Madara countered.

"Not my problem," Hashirama snorted, leaning back in his seat and smirking sideways at the scene developing between Tobirama and the new woman who wasn't wasting time in 'getting to know' the new company. "I'll have to pay you back for this, after all."

"See if you can," Madara challenged.

"You're all so terrible," Sakura chuckled behind her hand. "Like I remember."

"Would you have it any other way?" Madara asked her, grinning over Izuna's head as the rest of the clan members filed in to sit at the tables.

Sakura didn't hesitate to answer. "Not a bit!"

And it was true.


	27. Chapter 27

**Under the Rabbit Moon**

 

It was all very nice. There was witty banter, easy conversation, and even some playful teasing at the head table. Sakura isn't blind and doesn't miss the harsher words traded like barbs between the Senju and Uchiha who are seated at the lower table, but there was a sort of magic in the way Madara and Hashirama got along.

When the Senju saw their leader speaking so casually with Madara it helped steer them to do the same. When the Uchiha saw Madara open up and be receptive to the Senju clan head they followed their leader's example. The bad blood between the clans was old and deep, but Sakura suspected it was nowhere near as vile as it could have been if things had gone differently. Izuna was alive, so were Itama and Kawarama. Things were fine. They were even…nice.

Sakura saw hope over the edge of her sake cup.

The food came out and each member was served their meal starting with the high table and ending with the lowest table. It wasn't much, but the amount of conversation made finishing the meal a slow process. Sakura through that was unusual until she remembered the few dinners she had to attend with Tsunade. Her old master had hated the formal seating arrangements and faux casual atmosphere and hated dinner invitations from politicians and clan leaders alike, so Sakura didn't attend many, but the few she had went like this.

The real talk wouldn't start until much later, maybe in a back room over smoking sticks or out in a secluded part of the gardens on the grounds. All the conversation that happened between parties right now was for show, and nothing had any teeth in it.

Sakura leaned slightly over to Izuna and he was hyper attentive to even her most subtle moments. All she had to do was incline her chin and he was at her ear.

"Where are we going after dinner?" she asked.

"The rock gardens just behind the main house. There is a pavilion overlooking the lake where we can talk more privately. Do you smoke?"

Sakura sighed and chuckled into her drink. "No, dear, I don't, and I think I've told you Uchiha why more than once."

"Uchiha were born for fire, you can't make us give it up when it's in it's most harmless form."

Sakura almost groaned but bit her lip. When she had last left Madara and Izuna had been too young to have smoking pipes or the more crude smoking sticks that older Uchiha were fashionably sporting. Sakura had told Tajima and several other Uchiha that smoking over so many years would wear down their lungs and make them sick. Most of them had ignored her advice but a few had come back to ask her to examine their lungs and 'clean them out' if she could. Even though they always went home feeling better and lighter and stronger, it didn't stop them from going back to the sticks.

It was just another Uchiha thing.

"If there's going to be smoke and sake I should probably not be indulging so much here," Sakura said.

She glanced about and realized only a handful of members were indulging in the sake so early, while most were content with the tea. Madara had a strong smelling cup of sake in his hand as did Hashirama, but Tobirama was adamant about refusing the cups offered to him by the beautiful woman at his side. He looked more distressed with ever refusal and that seemed to delight the woman.

"I'm not going to scold you for it, but tell me if I'm wrong," Sakura said while gesturing to the couple with her sake class before setting it down. "Your doing?"

Izuna's smile was brilliant and perfectly framed for wiggling him out of trouble he had caught himself in. "It was either her or you in this seat beside me and I'll have you know there is no one I would rather be beside at any gathering on any day."

"Hmm, you say that now, but give it some time and one day soon you'll be thinking twice about saying no to pretty ladies who keep flashing you eyes. Still, I'm glad that this time it turned out this way. It's been too long and you've grown up too much."

"Not too much," he chuckled in a hopeful tone. "I'm not a child anymore."

"I'm sorry I missed that," she said.

Without thinking twice about it or who was watching, she reached for his hand and squeezed it where it lay on the cushions between them. Izuna squeezed right back and his smile seemed to melt into something less polished and more honest.

"I'm sorry too, but I'm glad you're here now. There is so much I want to tell you and so much I want to show you. I've grown yes, but so has the clan. We've expanded greatly and there are so many new children being born. Oh, having you around for the next few weeks will alleviate so many worried mother's fears. Many of the woman are first time mothers."

Sakura felt something flutter in her chest. "Really? That's wonderful to hear. I'm so glad. It means that you've had some real peace here, hasn't it, if you have a baby boom?"

Izuna snickered and Sakura frowned.

"What?"

"Baby boom, you-sorry, it just sounded so odd to hear. There is a greater number of mothers and mothers to be that are expecting." He snickered again. "Baby boom."

Sakura rolled her eyes and let go of his hand to lightly slap his arm in mock play. "Really, Izuna. It's just a phrase, don't get so worked up about it and make me feel old."

"I don't think I could do that when you look no older than someone my age." His snickers subsided and he angled his head to see her anew. "It might be too forward of an assumption, but knowing what we know now, she doesn't let you age, does she?"

Sakura felt her throat go dry as she glanced around the room to see who would be listening in on their conversation. Aside from he woman on Tobirama's arm, no one seemed to be sparing them any looks, but Sakura knew better. She was in a room with some of the most talented and sneaky men and women of the era. People would be listening in even if she didn't see of feel their eyes and ears turned towards her.

Talking about Kaguya seemed like something taboo, something she couldn't do so casually with so many other bodies around her. And it was Izuna asking, meaning there were things she needed to say to him before she started to talk about the goddess locked inside her never aging, eternally young body.

She had died when she was seventeen, and maybe she aged a little bit to reach the peak of her physical maturity, but ever since Sakura left the old world behind, Kaguya had kept her in her prime. Sakura should have been in her mid twenties, but she wasn't.

Was she?

Izuna reached for her hand again and grabbed it tightly before the silence could stretch between them much longer. She looked to him again and saw his expression had morphed from one of casual delight to resolute determination.

"You don't need to think about it or about her as long as you're here. Don't worry, you're safe," he told her.

The word made her want to laugh. 'Safe?' Sakura had never been safer than when she was with Kaguya. She couldn't even kill herself. She was a master to death and a body of power. Safety was not one of her concerns, and it was laughable that Izuna would be worried about her.

No, there were other things she was worried about.

Sakura squeezed his hand back. "I know that. I never worry for my own well being, remember that. Maybe later when we have the chance to get caught up I'll…speak more about it. Right now I'm just not ready."

Izuna glanced about the room and his frown matched the dull look in his eyes as he realized once more who they were surrounded by. "Really, there is nothing I would want more than to have just that."

"I'm sure dinner won't last much longer."

Izuna glared down at the plate of his brother, seeing how it was still half full.

"If only my brother were to realize that. He has no head for these sort of clan politics and I'm afraid that may be my fault. He wants to leave everything to me and go run off with his weapons to his battles. It's what he is best at, mind you."

"And you?" Sakura asked coyly.

Izuna almost flushed, but maintained his pale complexion under her scrutiny the way he had been taught. "There is no area I do not excel in."

"I don't doubt that, but what do you think you're best at? No, what do you like best?"

"I like talking with you."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "That's not a skill."

Now it was Izuna's turn to chuckle. "You don't think so. You want to know how many men in this room are scared out of their pants at the thought of having to be in the same room as you? You're beautiful and powerful and intimidating. Some are scared that there isn't a screen to hide yourself from their eyes. Madara has already told them it's forbidden for anyone to use their sharingan to look upon you."

Sakura frowned, equally flattered and disturbed by the praise. "Forbidden, why?"

"Mostly because my brother and I agree that we don't want anyone looking at you with eyes that could be roving for a weakness of any sort, and also because it's disrespectful. They're not supposed to do it to any guests, but especially not ones we want to impress."

"I'm nothing so special," Sakura mumbled.

Izuna watched her for a while, looking like he wanted to disagree and argue her point, but when he opened his mouth it was to offer soft words of agreement. "Maybe so, maybe you're not the god they fear you to be, but if you think about what we are attempting, it might be best if they believe that. Who else in history has attempted to make something good out of so much bad blood? What we are attempting is impossible. Maybe we need a god on our side."

His hand reached for her face and almost touched the skin there, but instead his hand went to one of the decorations in her hair. Sakura felt him finger one of them but couldn't see which one it was.

"This one was from me," he said.

Sakura remembered which golden pin was from the younger Uchiha. It had been a gold and red phoenix pin with eyes made out of rubies and beads trailing down like the tail of her flaming flight. She noticed that it matched the design on his outermost robe and wondered if that was a favorite motif of the younger Uchiha.

"Where did the others come from?" he asked.

"One from each of the boys. There's one from you, your brother, and one from each of the Senju brothers."

Izuna frowned and leaded back to count the pins. He clicked his tongue when he counted six. "Even that bastard gave you one? Did you check first to make sure it wasn't poisoned or laced with drugs?"

"You really don't get along with Tobirama, do you?" Sakura chuckled.

"Don't blame me, he tried to kill you once."

"That was so many years ago and I'm positive we're beyond those initial feelings of basic fear." She glanced over at where Tobirama was being gently forced to drink from a cup of sake by the pretty woman who looked as if she enjoyed a flustered man far too much. Poor Tobirama. He wasn't going to survive another half hour of her.

"Anyway, I think he's been adequately punished this night. You think you could call her off?"

Izuna stared up at her innocently. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Haha, very funny, as if I couldn't tell that it was your plotting that put him in this mess. You've grown but you haven't changed, Izuna. You're still a troublemaker with a pretty face."

This time he did blush and the smile was sloppy as he turned his eyes back to his empty tray. "At least you think I'm pretty."

Sakura rolled her eyes and then leaned over so she was closer to Madara. He noticed she was at his elbow right away and gladly broke off from his conversation with Hashirama to hear what she had to say. She was likely the only person he would do that for aside from his brother.

"You're not planning on keeping us inside all day long, are you? I'm anxious to talk with you somewhere where there aren't half a hundred eyes on me whenever I whisper," she said while bowing her head to hide her lips behind her hand.

Madara glanced down and noticed how his plate was one of the only ones not completely finished and made a sound before replacing his cup for his chopsticks.

"I forgot myself, forgive me," he said with an easy smile.

Beyond him Hashirama noticed what his friend was doing and looked down to see he was also not ready. The pair of them didn't need much time to finish what little food was left on their trays before dropping their dirty chopsticks messily atop the dishes. Hashirama was a bit neater about it, but Sakura noticed that in comparison to his younger brother, Madara was far less polished and seemed to care very little for matters of decorum or delicacy.

"You're not alone in wanting some time to truly catch up," Madara admitted behind his own shoulder before winking at her and turning back to the rest of the clan.

Madara clapped loudly for attention and the whole room turned to him, listening intently as he dismissed the group to retire and relax in the zen gardens for the rest of the evening. There would be tables for them to drink at and plenty of places to explore for the sake of beauty.

Tobirama looked ready to either knife someone or cry and Sakura wasn't sure which one was more believable as an action the stoic Senju would succumb to. The poor kid.

Sakura rose from her seat all on her own and neatly brushed out the winkles of her robes before following Madara and Hashirama out, trailing immediately behind them with Izuna on her other side.

The Zen gardens were far more expansive than Sakura would have anticipated considering the Uchiha compound had only been stationary for five years. The Senju had their gardens with plum trees blooming and flowering in rich purple and lavender blossoms, but that wasn't surprising considering that Hashirama and Kawarama could both grow a small forest over the course of a couple of hours between the two of them.

Sakura thought that the two garden types reflected the two clans and their distance personalities. Flowers and trees were such a Senju thing, but the rocks and minimalism was a strong Uchiha theme.

Kawarama came up alongside her and Sakura smiled down at the boy before looking past his shoulder to see Itama and Mito arm in arm, heading off and varying slightly apart from the crown with a frantic Uzamaki aid trailing behind them with worry clear in his eyes as he watched over his clan's mischievous princess.

Izuna seemed unwilling to relinquish his place at her other side and that was fine as they were all trailing along behind the two eldest brothers. Tobirama was still a little ways back shaking off the girl from earlier and falling further and further behind.

Sakura sighed and stopped to turn to Kawarama. "Do you think you can go save him?" she asked.

"Of course I can. Do I want to?" He looked up at her with wide eyes full of fake innocence.

"Please, for me? We need him to be a part of these talks."

"We don't need him or Itama chan," Kawarama grumbled. Sakura reached down and kissed the top of his head and he sighed before turning around to head back.

Sakura glanced back over her shoulder to watch him but slowly kept walking behind Hashirama and Madara. She saw as he marched up to the woman without so much as a hint of hesitation and reached between them to grab his brother's arm.

"He's not into old ugly woman so you can back off," Kawarama loudly declared before yanking on his brother's arm and dragging Tobirama away.

It was just enough to stun the beautiful woman into relinquishing her hold on the Senju. Her black colored eyes were wide as she looked up searching for a face. She saw Izuna and stared, watching. Sakura realized this was because she was wanting direction from him. Sakura suspected so much.

Tugging the front of her robes closer together Sakura turned back around and took steps to put herself directly between Hashirama and Madara. Both males easily parted to make room for her between them.

"It's missing something, isn't it, Sakura?" Hashirama asked her as he waved to the gardens around them. There was color high on his cheeks and she recognized it as coming from the sake. He couldn't hold it as well as Madara could.

"The flowers?" Sakura guessed.

Hashirama's eyes lit up and he laughed. "Yes! That's it."

Sakura shrugged and folded her arms into her sleeves, watching the world around them. "I don't know. I like it just fine the way it is. It's a different kind of beauty. Not all wonderful things in this world must look the same. The same word to describe a sunset describes the peonies, but neither the sunflower or the sky can be called the same thing."

"You sound like a court lady," Madara snickered, smiling broadly down at her. "Are you sure you're not one of them."

Sakura narrowed her eyes and pressed her lips together, thinking that maybe the drink had gotten to him more than she first assumed. "I should hope not. If I was I'd be doing a terrible job of distracting you from making those important decisions. Where is it you said you were going to take us to talk?"

"Nowhere too boring I hope," Hashirama interjected.

Madara huffed and gestured to a path leading down to the lake were a beautiful wooden walkway led out to a podium built like a peninsula on the water. It had already been decorated and arranged to accommodate a party their size with drink and cushions aplenty.

"It's lovely," Sakura said before Hashirama could open his mouth and find a reason to complain about it.

"Come on then," Madara said.

He led them out and Sakura heard the others following along behind them as the narrow walkway forced them to cross in single file. Sakura looked back and saw that no one else was around, even when she flared er chakra to get a sense of who could react to it.

"We're safe here, you don't have to worry about spies," Madara said, reaching for her hand and pulling her down onto a cushion next to his and Hashirama's. She was to be the one that spearhead Uchiha from Senju.

"How come?" Hashirama asked, sitting down next to Sakura and leaning towards her subconsciously.

"I have Uchiha guarding the surrounding area and plenty of those all around."

Madara finished by pointing upwards where a silence tag was taped to the ceiling of the pavilion. Sakura noticed several others under and around the paper lanterns lighting up the small enclosure. It was dusk, so it wasn't dark just yet, but in less than an hour they would need the lights.

Sakura started to pour for herself a cup of sake but when Hashirama reached for some she slapped his hand lightly and instead set the jug outside his reach and poured for himself a cup of the from the pot on the small grill style fire where it had been kept warm.

"You need to be the most level headed here tonight," she told him before pressing the tea into his hands and urging him to drink. He watched her intently, eyes locked on hers as his hands took the cup, fingers brushing hers. He looked like he wanted to say something but he settled for nodding mutely and accepting the drink.

When Sakura looked back both Tobirama and Kawarama were seated across from them. Izuna was beside his brother.

"Are we not going to wait for Itama and his bride to be?" Izuna asked, glancing about for his favorite Senju brother.

"They're…busy," Kawarama carefully explained. "Also, it's best to keep this between just our two clans before we drag others into it. We need to know what we're doing before we start involving the Uzamaki."

"What are we here to discuss, then?" asked Madara. It was clear from his tone that it was a question that was meant to be answered, not because he didn't know, but because he wanted it clarified.

"Peace," Hashirama answered steadily, the lightness gone from his tone. When he looked up his gaze was hardened. "A village built for peace with Uchiha and Senju living side by side. I want this."

Madara inclined his head. "As do I."

He gestured to something on the table and Sakura saw they were scrolls that, once unrolled, showed a map of the land of fire. She recognized the land that would one day become the Village Hidden in the Leaves even before it was put on a map. The typography of her village and land was something she would never be able to forget.

"The Uchiha have scouted out the lands you suggested Hashirama and find them acceptable. Now, for politics…"

They went back and forth for a while, bringing up models of government and discussing the pros and cos of said models. They talked about what would be allowed and dared to do what wasn't.

The dusk drew out and soon the sky went from blue to gray to a navy shade filled with stars. In the pavilion on the water with the lanterns lit it was almost too lovely to believe that the fate of her future and the future of all her loved ones was being discussed. What they decided would be what Ino grew up in, what Kakashi was born in, what all the clans would be invited she would never seen them in this world, in this alternate reality, but Sakura believed that in this building history, there would be friends and family who were impacted by the words discussed over sake on the lakefront.

"Two Kage," Sakura interrupted.

"Two fire shadows?" Hashirama echoed. "How could two men rule equally?"

"It's adopted from an ancient model from the far west, but essentially two kings or Kage rule the territory jointly, but a 'council of elders' limit their powers with details such as a unanimous vote of opposition. These elders are taken from the different clans and families who join the village based upon a criteria revolving around the size of their clan in relation to the size of the village's population."

"Who would be on this council?" asked Tobirama keenly.

"That's a point of discussion," Sakura sighed. "It would have to be evenly split so no one family or clan has too much power, but the idea would be that this group would be made up of representatives of the clans that come to join the village. If the Uzamaki were to join they would have one person, likely Mito or whoever is their head, act as their representative on the council. This model, in order to work, would need more clans than just the two."

"What of the Hagotomo clan?" Kawarama asked innocently.

Madara made a face. "No, they have been doing well in integrating into the Uchiha clan and leaving behind their old namesake and misguided pride. I do not want to use the name of their former clan again and undo all the work that has been done to melt them into the Uchiha fold."

Sakura raised a hand and started to extend fingers. "First the Senju and Uchiha get seats, someone other than Hashirama and Madara who I would want to see as joint Kage. Then the Uzamaki. The power is not balanced as it is, but you mentioned the Nara and the Akimichi clan were interested if they could bring the Yamanaka clan in with them."

"Also the Sarutobi clan has shown interest," Kawarama interjected.

"Still," Izuna sighed. "Most of those clans are clans that would favor the Senju over the Uchiha in most cases. Uchiha were not friendly with the Sarutobi clan."

"But they respect you," said Kawarama. "I think they would like to work with you if they thought it was safe."

Sakura nodded and looked into her deep cup of sake, watching her reflection stare back at her. "My garden is filled with runaways and cast offs, but I think they would like to be a part of this village as well. I would take up a position on the council of elders to represent them, though they are not a clan per say, and it might be sticky if other clans are upset about their former members belonging to a different voice. That's important to remember though, each clan representative is there to represent the interests of their clan members, not their own voice. That's what makes them different from the Hokages."

"It's a model I want to work with," Madara said before Hashirama could. "Maybe the Uchiha don't have as much of a voice as the Senju, but think that maybe that's probably for the better if we're being honest with each other." Madara glanced over at Hashirama. "I trust your judgment more than my own at times."

Hashirama met Madara's stare head on and nodded once before looking to Sakura. "Maybe so, but why are you not nominating yourself as homage, Sakura? You're more experienced than either of us and arguably more powerful. I can't see a scenario where we would be able to force you to do something you didn't want to do. Shouldn't you be in power."

Sakura caught Tobirama's narrowed gaze and smiled sarcastically. "Honestly, guys, I don't think I should have any more power than just a voice in the council, and even then I'm iffy about it." Sakura touched the front of her robes and looked down at her hand. "Not as long as I'm sharing myself with  _her_."

"I still trust you more than anyone from any of the other clans," Izuna interjected before tobirama could open his mouth. Izuna glared sideways at the second eldest Senju as if daring Tobirama to say something more.

"Be as it may, there is still the issue of courting these clans. I don't know if it can be done," Madara sighed.

Hashirama chuckled and reached over to grab Sakura's cup of sake. When she protested he just grinned broadly at her before tipping it back.

"That's the easy part," he laughed once the cup was drained. "Kawarama and I can start on building the infrastructure and once they see that you can bet they'll be tripping over themselves to be a part of it."

"I can help with that part too," Sakura sighed. She reached out and took her cup from Hashirama and pouted at the empty bottom staring right back up at her. "You didn't have to drink it all."

"That can all happen after you spend time with us and our clan though," Izuna interrupted. "It's not fair only the Senju got you for so long while we were busy working."

"Yeah, yeah, as you say," Hashirama sighed, pouting at his tea cup and the far removed jug of sake Sakura was helping herself to. Madara and she had been finishing it off and now only a little was left. "Do you have any more drink, Madara?"

The eldest Uchiha laughed once before producing another two jugs from under the table. "I think the night is late enough. Let no more talk of politics take place. For now, my friends, drink and know that you have places to sleep once you can not drink any more. We can talk more of this in the morning."

"Or the afternoon," Kawarama chuckled.

"Or the afternoon," Madara agreed with a laugh as he raised his cup. "To peace."

Sakura and the others all raised their cups. Their cheer was one before throwing back their cups and drinking down the sake.

"Peace."

Sakura felt the heat in her belly from the drink and hoped it was enough to drown the worries swimming down there as well. With drink it was a little easier to forget about the rabbit goddess and her warnings. After all, no one had mentioned the Hyuga clan or the moon army. There really would be peace this time.

'Think that if you need to, child. Drink for now and worry about the days to come once those days come.'

 


	28. Chapter 28

**Under the Rabbit's Moon**

* * *

The days ran blissfully into each other and Sakura doubted herself each morning because it seemed so unbelievable that she could be so happy just to wake up and not have an enemy looming in the future.

With the death of the Gold and Silver brothers the promise of a military upheaval that would become The First Shinobi World War was no longer assured. Izuna, Itama, and Kawarama were all alive in this time line, and Kawarama had a partnership with Kurama. War wouldn't erupt with the Senju and Uchiha clans solidifying their alliance. No one could challenge them now. They would have peace. They would all live, and maybe this time Sakura would get to see her family survive. She was going to-

Madara killed Kakashi, ran him through with a sword after her sensei had been too slow to save himself, but not too slow to push her out of the way. She had been run through once and Kakashi had said it with a look, that he wasn't going to let her be struck a second time by the Uchiha.

Kakashi tried to turn towards her and see her with the one good eye left, but he was limp before his face could find her's. He heard her screaming though-she knew that much.

Sakura woke in a cold sweat with the sun still deep behind the horizon and darkness in the sky. It was cold in the middle of the night and she was shivering from more than just the temperature. Her body was sticky with dread and sweat.

"Why did you show me that?" Sakura demanded, running her hands through her hair again and again until her nails scratched her scalp to a red rawness.

The dream had shaken her more so because of how unexpected it was than for the actual horror. She had healed somewhat from the trauma and loss of her closest people. It still hurt, but it didn't debilitate her like it used to.

Kaguya rose to the surface and answered in her mind.

"Because you forgot."

The anger made her a little braver as Sakura growled low in her heart and then her throat. "I never forgot. There's no way I would be able to forget what I lost. Just because I was happy for a while doesn't mean I forgot."

"It is good to remember the lessons that need repeating. You are not safe as you wish. Yes, you are strong, and yes, you are feared, but that does not mean safe. The world hungers to tear down what it does not understand and you are in just as much danger as the day you ate my heart, young Sakura."

In her own way Sakura felt herself still. It was rare the at Kaguya call her by name and address her so formally. It felt wrong, out of place, and did nothing but sow unease in Sakura's heart.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked, anger and fear melting out of her tone to be replaced with caution. "And why did you show me that memory in particular?"

Kaguya's voice was low and melodious, drifting through the darkness like it was meant for it. "Madara is one half of the puzzle, one half of the key. You need to remember him for what he may become should we fail in this."

"Now you're just trying to freak me out. I know well enough without the reminder how powerful Madara can be. You didn't need to show me how he killed Kakashi."

"Not how  _powerful_." It wasn't annoyance but Kaguya's words turned curt and clipped at the ends. "How  _dedicated_  and desperate he was. Power is a thing existing inside anyone and everyone, but only the truly depraved can draw it so far out. Madara is one half of the puzzle. Hashirama is the other half. Bring them both to the cave. They're nearly ready."

Sakura's memories traveled back to when Kaguya had her sleepwalk leagues from the garden to a cave where the histories of the world were painted on the walls. Sakura remembered feeling the sense of deep, old and forbidden chakra leached into the stone and in her heart, balked at the idea of bringing the boys there.

"Why? What are you going to do to them there?" Sakura asked. "And what do you mean about them being 'nearly' ready?"

When Kaguya didn't answer, but slipped further into Sakura's consciousness without reply Sakura scoffed.

"I'm not taking anyone anywhere for any reason until I know more. I don't think you want to do anything terrible to them, but I'm not going to trust you so blindly, Kaguya." Sakura felt a purr when the moon goddess heard her own name, but didn't falter in her short lecture. "I need to know more of what it is you want from me. What are you trying to do or hoping to do with the help of those two?"

"There will be a time for explaining these things," Kaguya hummed before slipping even further away. "But that time is not now. You need only remember the truth of their natures. Don't lose your path in the midst of your bliss and never remember the fear and blood of men in the face of gods. In the coming weeks you will see it among the people and you will remember my words."

Sakura felt cold once more as silence stretched long and thick throughout her own mind. She called out to the woman multiple times but heard nothing in reply, which was typical as of late.

It was almost too early to rise from bed, but Sakura didn't think she would be able to fall back asleep with her heart and her head as awake as they both were. She felt like both had been sent running. Stopping to lay down and sleep felt so unnatural after a sprint that woke and invigorated.

She got up from the bed and went to where a basin and pitcher rested. She poured for herself some water and dipped a cloth in until it became damp, though not wet. It was still cold, but Sakura felt the need to wipe the sweat from her face and neck while she contemplated the woods of Kaguya. What was it the Rabbit Goddess wanted in the end. What was her end goal that she was working towards? She was too keen to be merely reacting to the world and events around her, so there had to be some sort of motivation there.

Stories about Kaguya were few and far in-between. Most were content to leave her to the angels of myth and legend. Her sons and grandsons were studied with vigor and it was these boys who were credited with much of what shinobi knew of chakra and how it worked. There were even stories about their motivations and thoughts about how chakra should be used in the world, but when it came to their mother or grandmother, Kaguya was a forgotten figure.

" _Because men write the stories, and they're horrible writers. Look at that pervert!_ " Tsunade once roared at a younger Sakura who had asked why the medical texts were all by male authors when the demographic for medical practitioners were so harshly skewed in the female's favor.

Thinking about Tsunade made Sakura wonder if her old mentor would get along better with Kaguya if their situation was something different. Both were strong woman Sakura had learned from and, admittedly, been helped by. Even if she didn't like admitting it, Kaguya looked out for Sakura like Tsunade had. Kaguya even seemed to care for Sakura beyond self survival.

But Kaguya wanted more than self survival, which brought Sakura's musings to their first loop in the circle.

"I'm thinking about you and what you want. Feel free to tell me if you want," she said aloud, knowing the woman could hear thoughts as well as what was spoken aloud. "Do you want to be free of me, independent and alive once more?"

There was no answer and Sakura wasn't surprised. Kaguya rarely answered unless it was something she wanted all on her own and normally that was fine. There wasn't a lot of opportunity for Sakura to badger the woman on issues. Most of the time Sakura was content to let those metaphorical sleeping dogs lie.

But Madara killing Kakashi… There were some sleeping dogs that wouldn't stay down and were content to wait until she was asleep and easy to bite. She couldn't run from what happened in her dreams, it seemed. She'd have to see Kakashi die and Madara stand over the corpse more than just once.

The thought made her swallow and taste bile she hadn't known was there. Seeing her family die was the hardest thing to live thought, and it hurt even more knowing that one of the chief murders of her happiness was a boy she was just as devoted to as her sensei. Funny how the other grand murderess was also someone she had fallen into a strong relationship with. How had that happened?

Sakura hated how she had to fight the urge to flinch when she saw Madara because the first thoughts that rushed back were ones that made her ashamed to call him her friend. She knew  _this Madara_ and  _that Madara_  were not the same person, but it was hard when they had the same face and even the same voice, more or less.

And to make matters worse, his brother looked painfully similar to how she remembered Sasuke in his youth. Izuna was made up well and polished more than Sasuke ever had been, but the bone structure was nearly the same and the hair could be fixed the same way and then it would be like staring at a ghost.

Sakura hadn't realized how much the Uchiha brothers would make her think about her past. She hadn't been this bad when she was with the Senju, thought Naruto's smile hid in Hashirama's lips every now and then.

Sakura returned to the covers of her bed and tried to lay down again. Sleep was far from her brain but she persisted.

She must have fallen back asleep because the next thing she knew she was waking up, blinking away the new light falling over her face as sunbeams slipped bast the frames of the rice screen door. There were voices too, of people in the main house starting their daily chores. Someone laughed and Sakura thought she recognized the voice as belonging to one of the older Uchiha maids but couldn't be sure.

It was reason enough for Sakura to get up and dress herself in a simple yukata, the least ornate of all the ones she had been leant by the Uchiha clan. Her hair was long but she tied it up high and let it trail down her back like the tail of a wild animal, swaying on it's own with each step.

Her face was still damp from washing it in the basin when she stepped out of her room into the hallway. She followed the voices until she found the kitchen and smiled at the first person to notice her.

"Sakura same, we were going to bring you your meal! What are you doing up so soon?" A The maid with pretty gray eyes blustered. She wasn't as young as some of the others and her eyes were too light to boast a sharingan, but she was a highly capable helper in plenty of other ways.

"I thought about taking care of myself this morning. I was actually on my way out to train a little and then I'll be back to clean up and make my rounds. It's still early, isn't it?"

She laughed behind her hand, the crows feet at her eyes crinkling warmly. "Only a few are awake this early hour. Our proud Uchiha men are enjoying the banquets at night too much to be up so early. Not many can hold their drink and look as well as you the next morning, Sakura same."

Sakura rolled her eyes at the backhanded compliment, since she knew well and good that ladies weren't supposed to drink grown men under the table when they were trying to impress other clan heads. The Senju had left several weeks ago, but others had come in their place at the invitation of the Uchiha head to discuss these 'talks of peace' that seemed so intriguing.

So far Madara wasn't actually asking anyone to join him and the Senju on a village founding, but was simply negotiating peace accords for the period of time in which they would need to establish the village. At the end of such accords they could ask the trustworthy clans if they would like to be a part of the village.

Sakura tried to remember who it was that had come late last night and then mentally smacked herself for being so absent minded. The Aburame was one of the four noble clans of her village, after all. Odd as they may seem-in any period of time- they were wealthy, respected, and loyal to their word.

Sakura felt something pressed into her hands and looked down to see recitals wrapped in paper. "For breakfast," the Uchiha woman said with a smile. "Come back for something more filling when you're done training."

Sakura walked out and saw that there were a few faces she recognized already up and about for the day, but not too many. It was still early after all. She helped herself to a single recital filled with plum bean paste and followed a crude trail to a patch of land just outside the clan's boundaries. There were a few trees there, but mostly open field and plenty of room to move.

She stopped walking once she heard the grunts of effort and paused to sense for the chakra she knew she would feel. Her shoulders slipped a bit as she realized she had already been sensed in return and wouldn't be able to walk away without making it awkward later.

"You're up early," she teased, coming out from behind a cluster of trees with half a rice ball in hand. She licked a handful of sticky grains off her lips back into her mouth and smiled. "How's the hangover?"

"I could say the same to you. You were the one putting us to shame," Madara quipped back. He grinned and let the huge fan lower as his body abandoned the defensive stance. "What are you doing here?"

Sakura shook her rice ball before stuffing into her mouth and sucking the last of the sticky rice off her thumb. Chewing behind her hand she took a few steps and stopped. "I was planning on warming up, but I doubt the fields would survive if the two of us decided to spar."

"I don't think I would survive if the two of us decided to spar," Madara joked, looking her over. "Unless you wanted to limit yourself to just taijutsu and weapons."

"You want to kill me?" Sakura scoffed. "You think too much of me."

"I've seen you raise the dead."

"That was only partially me. Since you know there's no sense in avoiding it, but I'm really not that impressive at all. I was always the weakest of my teams and before I consumed Kaguya and absorbed many of her powers I was really no one that could stand next to you, much less provide you with a challenge." Sakura chuckled darkly before scraping her teeth over the pad of her thumb and tasting the rice there.

Madara watched her closely before speaking. "And yet you're here now. I don't think that could have been accomplished if you were as pathetic as you believed yourself to be."

Sakura bit back the shiver that wanted to shake her body when she remembered why and how she was the one-the only one- to survive the battle at the end. She wasn't worth it.  _That Madara_ hadn't spared her a second glance after running her through with his sword and Kaguya had invested all her attentions into combating the two boys who sealed her with their lives.

She flinched when she felt his hand on her shoulder and blinked wide, looking up at how close he suddenly was. "Hey," he said, leaning into her personal space. "How about a wager then?"

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked, suddenly suspicious of the mischievous glint in his eyes.

"You can use that impressive strength in our spar."

The way he spoke somehow made her think of a memory so far back, of when he found her breaking rocks and clearing rubble with her own bare hands. He had asked her years later, after knowing about Kaguya, if that was something the rabbit goddess had given her as well. Madara knew that her strength was hers through and through, owing none of it to the other entity that lived inside her. So far he was the only one who knew about that distinction.

"…And no weapons?"

Madara's grain stretched thin and a little panic showed in his eyes. "S-sure."

Sakura watched as he set the giant red fan aside and jogged over to the opposite end of the clearing. Sakura followed him there and the two took their positions opposite each other.

"Let's just try not to destroy too much of the field, okay? I don't want the whole of the Uchiha force coming out here to see me getting my butt kicked."

"Of course," Sakura chuckled. "I'm sure that's not what they want to see when they go looking for the clean head, eh?"

"Don't tease me."

"Then start!"

At Sakura's cry the two lunged for each other and it was blur after that. It wasn't a long spar, but they were blurs of arms and bodies and smeared motions that hit and dodged and wove together a dance of pain and struggle. Sakura felt herself take a bit of a beating because she wasn't as fast as the Uchiha, but his skill was not what it was when she fought him in her world, this Madara and that Madara were two completely different entities, and the one in front of her was only eighteen and just a little bit better than her with all her training and experience.

Sakura's hits counted for a lot more though, even with her filtering barely any chakra into each hit. She didn't want to blow his arm clean off, but she did make it a point to scare him by kicking at the ground under his feet and splitting it open to send him off balance. She saw real fear in his eyes and even though he had been winning, she charged bravely forward into that opening.

For a span of time Madara was on the defensive and it made Sakura's heart soar to see that he was trying and seriously putting in the effort to beat her, but she was able to hold her own. She wasn't folding over after the first punch or having to rely on Kaguya's powers this time. She move with the training and speed she had personally honed over the years and it was Tsunade's fighting style she slipped into when she could.

But it wasn't a fight to the death and neither of them were desperate enough to pour that much of themselves into it, so before the half hour was up they were collapsing together in the midst of their rubble. Madara's hand was wrapped around her throat but her heel was on his chest, ready to kick him off.

"I think…" he panted, "you broke one of my ribs."

Sakura coughed and winced. "I can fix that."

"Please," he asked on a tired note, dropping his hand from her throat and moving back.

Sakura chuckled and followed him to a jutting hunk of earth he leaned against. She instructed him to pull down the folds of his yukata and show her where it hurt. There was an ugly bruise already forming around his ribs that made her wince. Her chakra was quick to respond though and she didn't hesitate to pour it into the injury.

"That actually feels really nice. You ever have anyone just come to you asking for some of that for no reason?" Madara murmured, closing his eyes and letting her chakra wash over his wounds.

"The opposite, actually. I had to hunt down some of my teammates when they were in need. Some of them were really stubborn about it too. A lot of men don't like being vulnerable."

"I can understand that in general," Madara grunted. He looked down at where her hands hovered just over his flesh, changing the color from ugly blue and purple to soft tan. "But this…this is nice. Maybe because it's you."

Sakura chuckled. "You're trying to flatter me because you don't want this happening again, is that it?"

He spared her a look over his arm as she worked on his ribs. "Can it be flattery if you mean it? Like yes, I don't want it happening again, but I mean it. I can feel your chakra in my bones and it's…warm."

She swallowed. "Usually people don't like other's chakra in their systems. I've been told it unnerves them too much to see me for these sorts of things. That or it's itchy. You should have seen some of the people I treat. You would think I'm torturing them."

He huffed loudly. "They're spoiled. Who the hell would complain about having their injuries erased?"

Sakura was holding back a chuckle when she heard the footsteps behind her. Madara didn't stiffen when he heard the approaching bodies but she knew the moment he saw them, because his body relaxed a little more.

"Oi, what are you doing out so early, your majesty?" Madara teased. "I thought you needed more beauty sleep."

"Shut up," hissed Izuna. He walked with a slight hunch and his eyes were nearly shut as he clung to the shadowed parts of the trail. "You're too loud and it's too bright."

Madara snickered. "The prince should learn to hold his drink better."

Sakura glanced back over her shoulder and winced at the sight of the younger Uchiha brother in his infamous hungover state. He really needed to stop trying to keep up with his brother. They were siblings, but Madara was the only one with an inhuman tolerance for drink.

"I'll be right with you Izuna. Just hang on a second longer while I finish fusing the bones back together in your brother." She turned back to look up at Madara. "It's not bad, just a hairline fracture."

"But it feels like I'm dying," he mockingly whined. "You need to heal me all the way!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "That would take too long. I'm stimulating the natural healing process so your body does it for you over the next few days. I'll check on it in the morning." She stood and turned to the younger brother who was leaning against a tree with the saddest expression on his face. "Let me see your head, Izuna."

He perked up at the sounds of her voice and reached for her when she was close, laying his hands over hers as she pouring more of her chakra into his irritated brain. His hangover started to abate right away and in a few moments it would be gone completely. Hangovers and broken bones were not the same thing.

"What were you doing out here?" Izuna asked around a yawn. "It's a mess."

"Training, just the regular kind."

Izuna snorted and then looked over her shoulder at his brother who was pulling the fronts of his robes closed again. "If this is what it looks like when it's just regular, then I would hate to see it when you two get serious."

Sakura chuckled. "You've seen me serious, and you've seen your brother serious far more often I bet. I'm sure you could imagine the rest. You're nearly done."

"You should invite me next time," Izuna said, sighing into the last dregs of her chakra as she pulled her hands from his head.

Sakura snorted. "Not if you're as hungover as you were. Honestly, you should be more careful about that. One day you might get real sick from alcohol poisoning."

"Ah, but you'll be there, right?"

"Don't jinx it," she scolded, flicking his nose as she turned to head back to Madara.

When she looked back she saw he was frowning and holding his nose where she had flicked him. She mouthed the words 'big baby' over her shoulder at him and then hid her smile when she saw his flush spread further and darker across his face. He was so easy to tease, even after all these years.

Madara grinned at his younger brother but hid his smile by bowing his head and letting his hair obscure the details of his features. Sakura didn't miss this though. "We should be getting back. There are still talks to have and we will be seeing the Aburame clan off this afternoon. Izuna, I'll need your help with that. Kami knows how you managed to charm your way into their hearts with all those layers."

"As if that had anything to do with being charming," Izuna shot back. "You're just gruff and stupid, not to mention dense. I would hate to see what you would do if I wasn't there to fix everything up for you. You'd be a mess."

Sakura remembered in that moment that the other Madara, the one that nearly killed her, hadn't had an Izuna to help and support him. Maybe Izuna was the difference that changed the fate of history's most powerful Uchiha after all. She had seen an Uchiha who had lost all his brothers and had to build and lead a clan without that support. Hashirama always had Tobirama, but in this world he had two more siblings.

"I have duties to see to as well," Sakura said, walking off ahead of them.

With a backwards wave she dismissed herself while allowing the brothers to trek back to the clan houses on their own, apart from her. If they arrived together there would be more talk than there was already. She didn't mind it much, but she knew both males still had their reputations they needed to worry about. Izuna was pretty enough that any girl would break their neck just to get a second look at him (same as with Sasuke) and Madara was clan head, so it wasn't a serious concern, but still a concern she held onto.

Izuna waiting beside his brother while Madara adjusted his yukata again after noticing he had done it sloppily the first time. He grumbled about it too, complaining about having to wear it in the first place when it was still so hot out.

"You're just hot because you were running around out here playing with Sakura," Izuna grumbled. His lids were partly lowered as he stared over at his brother's messy efforts with a look of princely disgust.

"You're just jealous because it wasn't _you_ out here. If you weren't such a lightweight you might have actually been here too. Don't give me that look."

"What look?" Izuna mocked, still staring at Madara like he was a piece of dirt on his sandal.

" _That_ look." Madara reached up to poke his brother's forehead but Izuna bat his hand away easily and glared.

"Don't tease me." Izuna huffed and started to walk off ahead of his brother but went slowly enough so that Madara could easily catch up. "If you're mean to me I won't tell you what we got from the Senju."

Madara jogged up alongside his brother. "Summons?"

Izuna snorted in a manner that was atypical for his manners. "Guess for who."

Madara couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Please tell me we got this today and not last week. If they're asking for Sakura she deserves to know. It's likely about the infrastructure of the village. She's one of three people who can produce the Moukon. They'll need that for the buildings and homes."

"Yeah, but they just invited her. And we already discussed this together, how we agreed that building all the houses for all the people would defeat the purpose and take away construction jobs that we would want to foster. They're not supposed to do everything overnight so they can make do with just the two of them for another day." Izuna reached into his robes and pulled out the small roll of paper. "It came yesterday, by the way."

"You're a brat when it comes to Sakura, you know that?" Madara laughed, reaching for the summons. "It's not like they're going to keep her forever. Plus she's been with us for weeks already."

"And she's been missing for years, so I'm allowed to complain as much as I please."

"No one could stop you from complaining, brat," Madara laughed.

* * *

It hurt to see the lands of her childhood once more. It was her village hidden in the leaves even if the monuments weren't there and the faces weren't carved into the mountains. The Homage tower hadn't been built yet either, but she could see where it would go once they started to dig in.

"This all used to be an empty field," Kawarama told her when he caught her staring. "We've been growing a forest for lumber and we started with a few buildings already, like where we want different boundaries to be. Ah, and Tobirama said he would help us divert the river a bit better because it's too wide at the mouth. But what do you think?"

"We're really doing this?" Sakura breathed, feeling tears in her eyes.

"Yeah," Kawarama said, watching her oddly. "You okay?"

Sakura laughed and it sounded wet. "You know how big of a deal this is?"

"I guess? There are villages though. It's not like we're the first or anything."

"There are villages, but not like this. There are merchant villages and cities around the daimyos, but this is a village we built for peace using hands that have been bleeding and breaking bones for generations. This is the first step away from a cycle of death and war. People from different creeds and clans and families will come together not for the sake of blood, but because of something greater than themselves."

"Hashirama said something like that but I didn't get it."

Sakura looked down at the youngest Senju brother and knelt down beside him to tug him closer. He fell into he hug easily and kissed the side of her head. She felt his hand patting down her hair a moment later and hummed in appreciation.

"This is going to be our village where we come together for the sake of peace, for the sake of our children and the future. We will grow and become stronger together, not nearly to survive in this world, but because we will have something to protect. It'll change the way all those babies in the Uchiha clan are raised."

"Is that what the will of fire is?"

Sakura looked up at Kawarama and blinked when he reached down to push away the stray hairs that had fallen in front of her face. "It's a will that doesn't break, but burns brightly in our hearts. It's the will to deviate from surviving to thriving. It's the will to fight once more, but not because we have to in order to make it, but because we have something to protect. You're something I want to protect."

"Am I your will of fire?"

Sakura laughed and reached up to kiss his nose. "Yes, and so are your brothers and the Uchiha and the people in the garden. They're all my will of fire. I will protect you no matter what."

Kawarama hummed and a small smile spread across his face. "I like you better when you're happy like this. It's better than when you let the monsters eat you in your dreams."

Sakura remembered what he was talking about, right after she had pulled him back out of the void and cocooned him in the tree where she slept for a month afterwards. He had seen the nightmare where the monsters came to eat her each night, the nightmare where she let them because she hadn't cared in that moment if she lived or died.

It was sad to admit it, but back then her will of fire hadn't been anything more than an ember. What would Naruto have said if he had seen her then.

"I like myself better when I'm like this too. Thank you for helping me and being patient with me." Sakura stood and then flicked his forehead before turning to look back at the unmade village. "So, where do you want another forest?"

* * *

Two months later and five additional clans later, the Village Hidden in the Leaves was given her name by Madara Uchiha. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio of clans came in along with the Aburame, and the Uzamaki.

Sakura knew that the invitations to the other clans wouldn't be lost though. With what they had going for them she doubted anything short of a god could stop them. For those months Kaguya was unusually silent and Sakura almost forgot about the goddess.

Almost.

The Hyuga clan, for example, was not what Sakura thought it would be.

* * *

 

 


	29. Chapter 29

Sakura had not had many hopes or aspirations for any sort of legacy being left behind, but after a total of almost eight months in the newly founded and recognized Village Hidden in the Leaves, she prayed her legacy wasn't modern plumbing: an invention she carried over mostly because she really missed flushing toilets. As it turned out, the modern advancements made in plumbing put the village on the map more than anything else, especially with the upper class civilians. It was a twist Sakura never saw coming and still, months later, could not completely fathom.

The Uzumaki clan brought with them a bulk of finances and business that jump started the economy, but what grew the economy from that point on were the merchants and upper class civilians who came to live inside the walls because of the stories of protection, strength, and luxurious living that made their village that much more attractive.

In addition to the invention of the flushing toilet, Konohagakure was one of the few places with a functioning hospital that was staffed around the clock with multiple medics. People would travel distances for the medical treatment and then stay inside the village because of the amazing food, scenery, and overall sense of peace. Some even put down roots.

"You don't think it's a problem?" Itama asked Tobirama one day while Sakura had tea with the both of them. It was rare she saw the two Senju brothers anymore because both were so wrapped up in other duties while she was mostly shuffled into hospital work or construction with Kawarama.

"What's a problem?" Sakura asked. She noticed Tobirama scowling more so than usual as he watched the people outside. The streets were filled with shoppers of all different types.

"The civilians," Itama clarified. "They're outnumbering us more than we anticipated. Konohagakure was supposed to be a ninja village, and aside from the Sarutobi Clan, the Shimura Clan, the Hatake Clan, and the Inuzuka clan, we've not been able to attract many other ninja clans."

"The imbalance is not too drastic," Sakura hummed over her tea. It was still too hot to drink so she just held it in front of her lips.

In comparison to what her Konohagakure looked like, the ninja population only made up maybe one fifth of the total population. What Itama was worried about was more of a 50/50 split between shinobi clans and civilians.

"The imbalance is not drastic at all, but the trend is what worries me," Tobirama admitted. "Shinobi fight and die more frequently, while civilians multiply like rabbits once they think they're safe. In a single generation the scales could tip too much to come back from."

Sakura tipped her tea back and let the first few drops slip over her lips. It was still hot, but not to hot to drink. Slipping down her throat Sakura was warmed by the liquid and it made her smile. "Did I ever tell you my parents were never part of a clan?"

Tobirama looked away from the window and even Itama stilled. Sakura spoke of her past so rarely, neither boy knew quite what to say so they both stayed silent.

"My parents were both shinobi, but neither had a clan to train them."

"How did they become shinobi?" Itama asked, leaning forward over the table.

Sakura sipped more of her tea and hummed in appreciation of the flavor. "Ah, who knows. I can't remember. It's been so long. Maybe that is something you could consider though."

Tobirama's red eyes narrowed in her direction. "A way to fold the civilians into shinobi lifestyle," he murmured.

Itama's eyes flew open wide. "Adoption? Clans wouldn't be opposed to including a few members here and there, but most of them are purists and won't take in enough civilians for it to be worth it."

"Not adoption," Tobirama interrupted. He turned his body away from the window and crossed his arms. "A civilian task force. We could establish a school for civilian children teaching basics and then students of promise could be promoted to apprenticeship under more experienced leaders."

"Civilians won't have the same potential for a shinobi lifestyle. Would it be worth it?" Itama asked, already suspecting his brother of thinking the same. Tobirama could be a closet elitist on his most annoying days.

"Even if they don't become the next war hero, knowing the basics can make them useful in other ways," the elder brother answered.

Sakura pouted. "It sounds like you don't believe civilian forces will amount to much."

"Most will not be able to measure up to clan standards, but a military is made out of all types. They may be useful somewhere."

Sakura touched the rim of her cup to her lips, eyeing him over the edge. " _Scary_."

He bristled at the comment. "That is fact. I will not be swayed by sentiment."

Sakura remembered Rock Lee and how he didn't come from a clan and couldn't use chakra, but he still stood up and fought in the last battle, surviving a terror that swallowed plenty of heritage shinobi. It had become easy to forget those memories, but as the village swelled and grew up around her, Sakura found she was haunted by more unusual ghosts, and the hardworking Rock Lee was one of them.

"Maybe the civilians don't amount to much, and maybe their children won't amount to much, but you will be surprised by what they could be capable of if given the chance."

"Ah, you mean the sudden development of a kekkei genkai?" Tobirama quipped.

Itama sat up a little straighter, glancing between Sakura and his older brother. Suddenly it didn't seem possible to speak. The conversation had become something that existed between the two of them and no one else.

" _You_  don't have a kekkei genkai," Sakura said. "Do you see yourself as inferior to Izuna Uchiha?"

The temperature in the room dropped a fraction.

"I understand better than most the edge a kekkei genkai gives its user. Do not try to belittle me, Sakura."

"Don't think I'm trying to belittle you, Tobirama kun," Sakura teased. "You're a brilliant shinobi who has worked hard and achieved great things. I'm sure you know the value of hard work and perseverance better than anyone else. You've benefited from the Senju heritage and upbringing, but that name doesn't dictate your limits." She raised a single finger. "You do."

Tobirama was so pale it was criminally easy to spot the color high on his ears and creeping up his neck. He didn't blush on his face like his brothers, as if he was desperate to hide his embarrassment. His jaw went tense as he clenched his teeth and narrowed his eyes.

"This and that are two different things," he ground out. "Don't make this personal."

"I didn't want to ague," Sakura pouted, seemingly impervious to the awkwardness of anything ever said between them. "But I still think we shouldn't write off all of the civilians who chose to sign up in your academy as fodder. Many of them might not be more than that, but I would like to believe each is capable of great things."

"And that is a wonderful, but impractical, disposition to have," Tobirama groused, looking back out the window again.

"Let me be impractical."

"That's easy for someone like you to say." He glanced back with narrow red eyes. "How many kekkei genkai has your god gifted you?"

There was a beat before Sakura opened her mouth to respond, but her eyes had dropped to the dregs left in her tea cup. "Ah, well, that's the thing, before I swallowed a god I had to survive her, and I did all that without a clan or a single kekkei genkai to get me there when the rest of my clan named teammates _didn't_. Where I am now and who I am now was not what or who I was then."

When she looked up Tobirama was watching her keenly and she realized she had spoken more of her past than she had intended to. His stare was always intense, but for some reason Sakura felt vulnerable under it when it was normally something she didn't sweat, so she laughed.

"You make me say the funniest things. This isn't about me or you though, is it? Do you need any help in establishing an academy curriculum?"

Itama took the opportunity to enter back into the conversation, leaning over the table and smiling brightly. "I could help with that. Hashirama and I were actually talking about this in terms of ranking the active shinobi already established in the village. If we had different titles for shinobi skill level then we could customize the pay for commissioned work and village missions. The Senior and Junior ranking system now is a good start but…ah, it could stand to be improved," he chuckled.

"Does that have anything to do with differencing the specialists?" Sakura asked, looking between both brothers.

Tobirama sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. The subject seemed to be reviving old headaches. "Hashirama and I have already drawn up a rough framework for it, but we're working on final edits before putting it before the council for a vote. Getting Madara to agree to everything takes too long."

"Ah, he's a busy guy," Itama laughed.

"He's too busy. He's not supposed to be taking missions as one of the two Hokage," Tobirama grumbled. "He's a politician now, not a warrior."

Sakura couldn't help but snort. "Madara Uchiha will never not be a warrior. It's in his blood. You can dress him up in fancy robes but underneath it all he's still wearing the armor from his glory days. The man doesn't want to settle down when he's still at his peak. Besides that, as long as one of the Hokage is in the village, he is allowed to take low risk missions outside of the village."

Itama rubbed under his jaw. "I feel like his brother would have made a better Hokage though, because Izuma is really good at leading his clan and is just the sort of personable type you would want to see as a village leader. He's a lot like Hashirama nii."

At Tobirama's aghast expression Sakura couldn't help it, but burst out laughing. The only person Tobirama probably disliked more than Madara was his younger brother, Izuna. It didn't help matters that Izuna was a trickster god with a chip on his shoulder when it came to pranking the second eldest Senju. The two had the worst chemistry out of anyone she knew, which was sad because if only they got along they would have been able to manage great things for the village. Izuna's strengths were Tobirama's weaknesses, and vice versa.

"I will defect before I have to take orders from that Uchiha peacock."

This time it was Itama who laughed obnoxiously loud, falling sideways and leaning against Sakura for support as she also shook with suppressed laughter. Tobirama's face was completely straight, just like his voice.

"D-Don't you have a- a meeting with the elders this week? Will you submit it for review then?" Sakura asked.

"You should know, you're one of the elders that needs to vote on it," Itama teased, poking the side of her face until she swat his hand away.

Tobirama huffed loudly. "If Hashirama hasn't lost it off his desk, that is the plan. We will propose it and then vote on it again the following assembly."

Sakura sighed. "You mean it's one of  _those_  documents. Can't you summarize it so we can vote on it right away?"

"Believe me, we tried. Transparency means more headaches, remember?"

"Any way I can sneak in some sake instead of the usual tea to our next meeting?" Sakura whispered conspiratorially to Itama at her shoulder. At her words Tobiramar's stare narrowed and his aura turned threatening.

"I heard that," he snapped.

Sakura pouted. "You take things too seriously."

"And you don't take them seriously enough."

"Not everything is a matter of life and death. When was the last time you smiled about anything, Senju sama? You look older than me with all your scowling."

Itama snickered at her words and then pointed up at his brother. "Keep it up and you'll go gray, Tobirama nii."

Sakura laughed again and the two bent over the tea table with their joke making them shake once more.

"I'm surrounded by idiots," Sakura heard Tobirama groan.

"Ugh, politics make me depressed. Let me laugh when I can," she said, wiping at the corners of her eyes. She looked past Tobirama to the sky and her smile slipped into a frown when she realized how much time had passed. "I need to be going soon, regardless. I'll try and see you both around before the meeting, but I can't promise anything. The hospital is mentoring a new group of interns for the month and my poor senior medics are being shafted into tutoring while the outside hires are taking up all the work."

"There is no relief from it, is there?" Itama joked.

Sakura groaned, climbing to her feet. "No matter where I turn there's boring adult work. We need to do something soon that doesn't have anything to do with business. I'm too tired of paperwork and being in charge. Itama when are you and Mito getting married? It's too far away. I want to go to your wedding."

The younger Senju went red at the mention. "We-we still have two-two months left before we-ah we have the ceremony, but Mito is excited as well."

"No surprise there," Tobirama said, dead-faced as usual.

Sakura laughed at how much redder Itama turned. "Yeah, our poor princess can't seem to keep her hands off you, Itama kun. I told her to see me for delivering your first child or else I wouldn't forgive either of you."

Itama's eyes went wide and he became incapable of speech. Now it was Tobirama's turn to chuckle at his brother's expense.

For as in love as the couple were, Itama was still sheepish about admitting it. It was adorable, Sakura thought. Hashirama and she had already started discussing what the couple would name their children and how many they would have. Hashirama desperately wanted a niece to spoil.

"Thank you for the invitation to tea, Itama, Tobirama," Sakura said while inclining her head in either of their directions. "I've missed being able to speak with you like this. We should get together for food more frequently." With a final wave Sakura excused herself from the room and slid the door shut behind her.

Itama listened for her footsteps to soften with distance before turning to his brother. "You know you could just ask her out for tea yourself. You don't have to always make me do it. I've already got a girl and Mito still gets upset when I spend so much time apart."

"You're saying weird things again," Tobirama grumbled.

Itama rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, it's just a meeting to discuss upcoming clan politics. Sure, there was no ulterior motives,  _suuuure_. You did a good job of asking her how she was doing, by the way. You spent a whole two minutes inquiring about her health before we moved on to business."

"That was the reason for the meeting," Tobirama grumbled. "Speaking of which, you have-"

"I know, I know!" Itama interrupted, throwing his hands up. "I'll get to it. Mito is the one that has to approve stuff, not me. Stop asking me all the time to bring it to her. It kills the mood you-you mood killer."

"You insult like a child still."

"Yeah, well at least I'm not still single." Itama stood and gathered the scrolls left on the end of the tea table, meant for him. "If you actually want help with that all you have to do is ask, but quit beating around the bush already. It's sort of sad to watch."

Tobirama's tone and voice never changed or shifted once. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Itama rolled his eyes. "If you say so. I'm going to pass these over then. You have a good rest of your day, nii san."

Tobirama didn't say anything else.

* * *

Sakura was in the hospital when Aoi came to find her.

"Hey, what are you here for?" Sakura asked, looking up from a tray of supplies she was sorting away for inventory. She had been lucky, not having to use them on a patient who her entry level medics were worried about.

"You told me to mention to you anything odd. Guess who had a meeting with the hokage this morning?" the older man asked, reaching up to feed the bird on his shoulder a seed from his jacket pockets.

Sakura stilled. "Who?"

"Hyuga. You hear anything about them coming into the village?"

Sakura hadn't, but still, that wasn't unusual. Madara and Hashirama were the two that could decide if a clan joined or not. The council could oppose a decision of the hokage if the vote to repeal an executive decision was near unanimous with eight tenths of the council against it. Before the issue was ever brought to the council both Madara and Hashirama would have to agree on it.

"When was this?" Sakura asked.

"This morning. They've left, but it sounds like they might be back for more talks. I was wondering if either head talked to you about it."

"They're not supposed to. I'm not in charge."

Aoi shrugged. "Still, they run a lot of ideas by you and most of us know that. Wasn't that what tea with Tobirama yesterday was about?"

"No, he was asking me for my hand in marriage," Sakura teased back.

"Not that block of ice. I doubt he even would know what to do with a woman if he had one, much less you."

Sakura flushed. "Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean?"

The older nin who had been her friend and supporter for years only smiled. "You know I respect you a great deal, Sakura, but I'll be the first to admit that you're a handful of a woman only a precious few could hope to handle."

"Oh really?" Sakura asked, hands on her hips, tone dangerous. "Does your wife know you go around saying stuff like this?"

"My wife is also the sort of woman only a precious few could hope to handle, and there's nothing wrong with that, obviously. I prefer my wife as feisty as she is. Take it as a compliment. I hope our children grow up like you."

Sakura knew that Mikoto was pregnate again, but it was too early to tell the sex of the baby. "Aoi, you only have one son so far."

"And if he grew up to follow your example we would be incredibly blessed. Doesn't matter if he's a boy or girl, you're still an excellent role model."

Sakura flushed and looked away. "You're forgiven for implying I'm hard to handle."

Aoi laughed and reached over to ruffle her hair, but it had already been a mess at the end of a long day so she didn't bother to react or swat his hand away.

"You think you're not too busy anyway?" he asked. "You're a young girl. Shouldn't you be living a more like a young girl?"

"I'm not even going to ask what you mean by that because I'm sure I don't want to know. We have a village in her infancy to manage and run, how could I not be busy?"

"Designing more toilets?"

Sakura sputtered. "Aoi!"

The older man laughed. "Sorry, kid. The wife and I both appreciate ours, thank you very much for that, but this isn't what I wanted to talk about. In the hospital, have you admitted any Hyuga recently?"

Sakura remembered distinctly they had. The case had stood out because there were four Hyuga together with severe injuries. They had been a larger unit at one point, she guessed, but knew better than to pry into their business. She had patched them up with a few other medics and they had slipped out after paying. That had been over a week ago though.

"Why do you ask?"

Aoi shrugged. "I have a feeling that it might be connected to their willingness to enter into talks. We don't get a lot of outsiders anymore."

"We get tons of outsiders, what are you talking about? They just all end up transplanting to our village after the fact so it only feels like we don't get tons of outsiders. It's different then how it was in the garden."

"Maybe so, but some things don't change."

Aoi hemmed and hawed about some other business, but left not long after that and Sakura found herself itching for a talk with someone from the clan that would be least likely to invite the Hyuga in.

She found Madara at one of his favorite bars in a low level henge that didn't do anything to confuse or deceive her. She smiled at him across the room and in spite of his blown cover, he waved her down and the two ordered some stronger sake.

"I thought you were supposed to be home by a certain time. Don't you have a curfew?" Sakura teased, sitting down beside him at the bar.

"And don't you have a bedtime. What is it with all these unmarried young women staying out late, hanging out in bars of all places?"

Sakura bat her eyes playfully. "Oh, this young unmarried maiden is plenty safe at this hour. She has a big strong friend who will get into bar brawls to defend her honor if that comes up."

"One time, it was one time, and it wasn't a brawl."

Sakura snickered, pouring her own sake. "Yeah, I guess it wasn't. It wasn't much of a competition after you snapped his wrist and tossed him back at his friends. Good thing Hashirama didn't find out about that one. We're supposed to be protecting the reputation of our precious village, aren't we?"

Madara didn't look like himself, but rather put up the henge of an older man with a salt and pepper beard and dark silver eyes. It was a favorite henge of his that Sakura had dubbed the 'silver fox' out loud. If Ino had been around Sakura knew that the two of them would have a riot coming up with better code names for Madara's disguises.

Madara grumbled, checking the level of their sake and pouring for himself another cup. "That's what I was doing. We don't need gutter snipe like them here. We're better off without inviting vermin into our beds."

"You're so noble, old man," Sakura cooed, reaching over to press a teasing kiss to the side of his face. "My hero. Thank you." He grumbled at the contact but even his henge couldn't hide the heat of his blush at her teasings.

"I actually wanted to see you for a couple of reasons, so naturally the risk was worth it. You know your brother has a birthday coming up, right? Are you planning anything spectacular for it. I thought nineteen was a big deal in your clan."

"Izuna doesn't need another big celebration. Eighteen was the big deal for us and his party was…well you were there for it, you know what it was like."

"It was stuffy and official and there wasn't nearly enough alcohol."

"He's a lightweight, what did you expect?"

Sakura snickered. "So, if you're not doing anything major do you mind if I hijack that and do something for him. I was complaining to Itama the other day that it's bee too boring and stuffy around her lately and his wedding isn't for another two months."

"And you're counting down the days. You know the only people more excited about these parties are are the Uzumaki and maybe the Akimichi, but they make excellent food so that's expected."

"You love their food and you know it."

Madara huffed. " _Everyone_  loves their food."

"Yeah, but you especially."

"I like good food and good drink. So do you," he argued, pointing to the sake in front of her. "Nothing wrong with that."

"Never said there was. Speaking of good food, I could cater some food for a nice…smaller, intimate party where it's just us and good food and plenty of sake. It doesn't have to be stuffy."

Madara grumbled but eyed her out of the corner of his view. "Small?"

"You know, the old gang? You guys, the Senju brothers, and me with a few friends… maybe. He likes that Sasuke Sarutobi fellow. It wouldn't have to be anything huge, but just something to relax and cut loose for. You can't complain about something like that."

"It sounds like trouble."

Sakura leaned against his arm and pouted, looking up at him as if she hadn't known him when he was the height of her hip many years ago. When Sakura was restless she didn't act her age and Madara would never admit that he found it entertaining and maybe a bit endearing.

"…I'll go but I'm not planning any of it."

"Of course not. I'll put it all together. We can do it at my house. I don't use it for anything else," Sakura cheered.

Madara grunted, waiting to see if she would kiss him again and keeping very still for the possibility, but she left his arm to go back to her drink and he missed the warmth. He wasn't going to complain about it though. He'd sound too much like his brother if that happened.

"Where are you going after this?" he asked instead.

Sakura shrugged before lifting her drink to her lips and tossing it back. She sighed in bliss at the taste. "Don't know. Maybe home. I don't have to stay over at the hospital tonight."

Madara swallowed, grabbing his cup for courage. "If you didn't have plans already-"

A dishtowel smacked the counter between them and Madara jumped in spite of himself while Sakura just blinked. Both looked up to see the weathered Akimichi bartender with a darker tan than most in his clan. He narrowed his eyes at Madara's direction before turning to face Sakura.

"I wouldn't do anything rash with this one, miss, he's way too old for you." Then the Akimichi went back to the opposite end of the bar and Sakura laughed at Madara's fuming expression.

"Shush, he was just being nice."

"You're older than me!"

"You look like you're forty though, and I haven't really aged since I was seventeen, remember?" Sakura chuckled, cheeks coloring prettily. "Even without the disguise you would look older than me. Makes me sad to remember how adorable the gaggle of you all were. None of you are shorter than me now, not even Kawarama!"

"Oh please, I'm not sorry to finally be older. And it doesn't matter if your body stopped aging, you're still older than me," he hissed, lowering his voice and eyeing the other members of the bar.

No one was paying them any mind as it was a slow night, but he still liked to be discreet. It was one of the reasons he had almost invited her back to finish drinking at the Uchiha main house. It was innocent, really. Izuna would be there, after all. He was doing his brother a favor.

"I think a birthday celebration would be a good idea. If you did it earlier it would be a surprise," Madara suggested at last. He was surprised by how eager he suddenly felt to see her in a social setting again. She was right next to him, but he still felt like it wasn't enough. "And we need to have another spar soon. It's been too long."

Sakura looked as if she were going to ask about something else but shut her mouth quickly and smiled instead. Madara would ask her about it tomorrow if she didn't bring it up on her own.

"I do need to work on my taijutsu."

"No you don't."

Sakura smiled slyly. "You know what I mean."

He thought about it, watching the bottom of his sake cup for his reflection. "Do you have time tomorrow morning?"

"I can make time. Sunrise?"

"No, that'll wake too many people. An hour after sunrise. We can train on the clan grounds."

Her eyes flashed with mirth. "Perfect. I'll see you then."

Madara hadn't been expecting it but she reached over and kissed him again and his whole body heated to the touch before she was petals on his arm, teleporting out of the bar and leaving a block of money in her place. Madara glared at the coins and felt his body tingle still. He buried his head in his arms.

"Stupid, I would have paid for you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bet you've never seen that in a time travel fic: Sakura inventing the toilet.
> 
> I never meant to write TobiSaku in this chapter, but I feel like the two of them have a very natural chemistry because Tobi doesn't bend over for Sakura like some of the others might. He'll stand up to her and she'll compliment him and he'll pretend he's not bothered by it. Poor Itama, he tries to be a good wingman, but there is only so much he can do to help his brother.
> 
> Madara is the cutest. Had fun writing him too. I could totally see him as one of those old guys who likes to sit around and drink all day when he gets older, but for now he restrains himself enough to just a few nights a week at his favorite bar. When Sakura joins him there is bound to be fluff. I think Sakura needs a few fluffy chapters before shit hits the fan again. I'm here to ship, and it's been a long time coming, so I've got to make good on my slow burn tag.
> 
> (Also, if having Author Notes at the end of the chapter is annoying let me know. I don't always post them because it might get in the way for some people, but IDK if it really even matters at this point.)


	30. Chapter 30

 

* * *

Izuna stood in front of the window looking out at the world burning in shades of amber and orange as the swollen sun climbed higher in the sky. It was still and silent as the village slept on, but he was restless without reason.

Madara had asked him to rise early and train, but Izuna couldn't find it in himself to rouse early in the morning to get dirty with his brother like they were kids again. He trained with his brother regularly, but he liked to keep to the schedule they had and according to that schedule he wasn't due on a field with his wild bear of a brother until tomorrow.

Besides, he was working on improving his genjutsu as per his specialization, and Madara was too impatient to suggest anything but physical combat for their early morning spar. They were both monsters on the battlefield, but monsters of a different sort. But thinking of his brother insisting on a spur of the moment spar made Izuna think of Madara as less of a monster and more of a nuisance.

"Monkey," Izuna muttered under his breath.

He felt a yawn and covered his face with the end of his sleeve. The sun was higher and he thought it was about time for him to dress for the day and get ready. After breakfast he anticipated the other annoying monkey in his life showing up to escort him to their meetings for the day.

There were a few feet pattering across the floor on the other side of the compound that Izuna hear as he slipped back into his room and shut the door. The maids would be up tending to early morning things like cooking the breakfast and getting the chores done. On special occasions he would have help from some of them to dress for the day, but he didn't feel like putting his best effort forward if all he had were boring meetings with boring or boorish old men.

He dressed and combed through his hair and recognized that his look was nothing special, but clean and proper enough to hold him above reproach. At least he combed his hair. Madara was lucky if he didn't look like a bush with all his wild hair at their meetings. Izuna secretly believed that was the real reason the hokage hats came with the flap in the back. He hated looking at his older brother's hair. How hard was it to braid it or cut it if it was going to go wild like that?

"Izuna sama?"

The younger brother stiffened at the sound of the voice outside his door. It wasn't the fact that he was being disturbed, but rather who it was doing the disturbing.

He turned away from the door and made his hands busy pulling his hair over his shoulders in neat parts. "Go, I have no need of you this morning."

The door slid open anyway and Izuna whirled in anger to glare with red eyes at the woman kneeling at the base of the screen. Kagome looked up from her place and smiled weakly. "Please my lord, you know me better than that."

"You presume too much, Kagome." Izuna forced his face away. "Go before my anger can not be rationalized away."

"I've been told to summon you to lunch with your brother. Should I tell him you wish to eat alone?"

Izuna huffed, glaring at his reflection. "You are not necessary for such a task. I will be to breakfast when I am ready. Madara need not wait or feel the need to summon me for such trivial things."

They ate together all the time and Madara never waited or sent others ahead to announce his presence. Kagome was looking for ways to put herself in their path in her usual manner. She hadn't been any worse about it since the move into the village, but at the same time she wasn't any better about it either. The only upside was that her attentions were diverted between pleasing Izuna and Madara instead of focused singularly on one brother.

She kept her head bowed at the foot of the door. "Of course, my lord. I shall tell him that you will arrive at your leisure and not to wait for you."

"Fine." He waved her off, hoping that would be the end of it, but knowing somewhere in his mind that it was never so simple with Kagome.

"Are you sure I can not help you with anything else? We were close once."

"Not so close as you might think. I used you to learn once, nothing more."

"But I never finished teaching you."

"I don't need any more of your lessons," Izuna hissed, glaring sharply over his shoulder at her. His eyes were spinning red in agitation because it was the same, day after day with her.

Once upon a time he had been a boy that didn't know any better and she took advantage of that. She had shown him things and taught him how to act, look, talk, and walk to attract attentions like he wanted. She had been a life coach in the shadows teaching him her subtle ways, but he had never wanted her to be anything more than that. But it was too late to say that. He had invited a fox into the henhouse and it was still digging for sweeter eggs.

"Of course my lord. As you wish." She smiled with her eyes closed and bowed her head while her hands worked to slide the door shut between them.

Izuna glared at that spot of his door where she had been only moments before, burning chakra until he heard her footsteps shuffle away. Only then did he relent and let his eyes fade back to black. He wished he could just cast her out and be done with it, but if he did that he would need a reason to justify his actions, and that would lead to questions… questions he didn't want to have to answer. The rest of the elders would make things difficult for him if they heard her twisted story, but that wasn't the worst of it. Eventually Sakura would hear about it, and the thought of her looking at him differently made his insides do something painful.

_'How do I make a woman happy?'_

In the mirror he saw his fear, Sakura's expression turned up in disgust as she turned away from him and the Uchiha and crossed over to the arms of someone else-Hashirama? Tobirama? Someone else he didn't know about?

"She wouldn't," Izuna hissed at the image, sending it away. He had…he had done things he wasn't proud of, but he hadn't crossed any lines. He was fine. She wouldn't look at him like that. She wouldn't.

Izuna touched a damp cloth to his face and tried to calm down before checking himself once more in the mirror, satisfied with his appearance before letting himself out into the hall.

He heard Madara, loud and boisterous before he even turned down the corridor to the room where they took breakfast. He was laughing about something stupid that made Izuna groan inwardly. It was still early and he didn't know if he could deal with his brother being an oaf so early in the day. It sounded like Madara had a guest he was entertaining.

Izuna grabbed the door and rolled it back, making Madara drop his arms and turn around mid sentence to see his younger brother glaring down at him. Madara chuckled and sheepishly let his hands fall into his lap.

"Too loud?"

"Quite," Izuna answered stiffly, effectively ignoring the rest of the room.

"Sorry Izuna," Sakura said. "That's my fault too."

Izuna's heart stuttered. In an instant his mood lifted and his attention shifted to the lone female leaning against the wall with a bowl of chilled fruit in her hands. Her face was damp as if she had just washed it, and he didn't doubt that based on the state of her dress being as rough and dirty as it was. It was clear just who Madara had been sparring with in the morning.

Suddenly nothing else mattered.

"Sakura! Madara didn't say you would be here."

He took a few steps into the room and slid the door shut behind him absently, not caring if it slid all the way shut or not. Izuna knelt down and folded the ends of his yukata under him as he sat next to her. Behind him Madara grumbled about having to get up to shut the door and while he did that Izuna snatched up his frozen breakfast bowl of fruit, all while never looking away from Sakura.

"Hey!" Madara complained once he noticed the theft, but Izuna was smiling too happily to mind as he took a bite.

"How have you been, Izuna? It's been a while since we've crossed paths. I was absent at the last council meeting." Sakura offered him an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that, but hospital emergencies couldn't wait."

"I wouldn't blame you if you said you skipped out on purpose, they're dreadful, aren't they? Too many old men with egos too big to all cram into a single room. They're especially cruel to you just because you're the only matriarch there." He took another bite of fruit and huffed loudly as he moved the chunk around in his mouth to talk more casually. "I'll skip with you next time."

Sakura laughed, sharing a look with Madara. "You couldn't. You're the peacekeeper. No one is as charming as you and if it weren't for you I'm sure most meetings would end up worse. Some of the voices are more power hungry than they have any right to be, demanding land grabs and resource raids." Something in Sakura's posture deflated. "I shouldn't be taking my responsibility as lightly as I have. Sorry, Izuna. I'm a bad influence."

Madara ambled back over and served himself a new bowl of fruit from the tray at the table. "You just got done explaining how you were absent because of an emergency at the hospital. Why the hell would you think you're a bad influence unless you're trying to imply politics are more important than human lives?"

Izuna glared back over his shoulder. "You're too harsh with your language, brother."

"No, he's fine," Sakura interjected, smile back in place. She picked up a strawberry from her bowl and dropped it into Izuna's dish. He smiled at the treat and she shrugged. "They're your favorite, right?"

Her bowl was nearly empty so Sakura scooted back over to the table to add more cubes of dragon fruit and kiwi. The Uchiha could always be counted on to have the best foods available as well as the best silks, and the best spices, and the highest quality of anything someone might want. They were famed for their prowess on the battlefield, but Sakura had grown to learn that one of their shadow strengths was their relationship with the merchant guilds. They worked hard to protect the caravans so they got first pick and a discount on all the best goods.

"Were you able to hear the details about the last meeting alright?" Izuna asked.

Sakura looked up from the fruit to nod as her cheeks bulged. From the way Izuna let his eyes twinkle she knew he had caught her looking like a fool in front of him so she covered her mouth with her hand and looked back down until she had chewed through the fruit in her mouth.

Sakura licked the juices off her lips before swallowing and speaking. "I heard something about the Hyuga that I wanted to ask you both about, actually. Birds are singing about peace talks and I wanted to know how you felt about it."

"About time," Izuna huffed.

Madara narrowed his eyes and glared down at the fruit on the table. He didn't seem willing to look up anytime soon. He didn't say anything else either.

"You are not opposed to it?" Sakura asked, slowing her words and she wondered about the difference in reactions between brothers. Izuna seemed far more eager to talk with the Hyuga than Madara.

"I'm not opposed to it if they come to us under the right conditions. If they're coming to us instead of us going to them it's much better. I'm more in favor of peace talks if we are the ones with the social power," he said.

Sakura felt something like shock as thoughts came together. "What did you do, Izuna?"

Izuna looked up sharply, eyes wide. "Me?" he glanced back at Madara and then at Sakura. "Why would you think I had anything to do with it?"

"The Hyuga who came to the hospital were survivors of a larger group that failed their mission. They won't talk about it, but their Byakugan were all over stimulated, meaning it was a mission that required a clan with a powerful dojutsu." Sakura's voice hardened with conviction. "That could have been the Uchiha, but you purposefully passed up such a mission forcing them to take the losses."

Izuna opened his mouth and then closed it, looking to his brother for direction, but Madara was still glaring down at the fruit.

"It's not the way you make it sound, Sakura," Izuna finally admitted. "The opportunity came up and it would be worth it if the Hyuga realized sooner rather than later that they would be better off this way. It's nothing worth getting upset over."

Sakura sighed and took another cube of dragon fruit. "I'm not upset. It's clever. Don't think I'm mad at you."

She heard the audible sigh of relief from the younger brother but nothing from Madara. "Are you mad I didn't tell you about it first? It was my idea. Madara wasn't happy about it."

"I wasn't mad at you either, idiot," Madara growled. "I told you we should pass it up. That was a suicide mission from he beginning. That doesn't mean I'm happy about having to work with the Hyuga now."

Sakura dragged a finger over her bottom lip to wipe up the juice. She looked from Madara to Izuna. "How did you get the Hyuga to accept the mission if it looked so terrible? Wouldn't they have thought the same thing?"

"The Hyuga are proud," Izuna huffed.

Sakura snorted. "And the Uchiha aren't?"

Madara looked up sharply but Sakura didn't flinch. "Hey, I still love you all, but I call it what it is. You're a bunch of peacocks."

Izuna ran a hand through his hair, letting fingers trail through the strands like silk. "Better Uchiha peacocks than Hyuga pigeons at least."

Sakura deflated a bit, unable to find herself surprised with the way Izuna thought after years of watching him grow. It was odd how he and Madara were brothers that could be so similar in some respects, and then different in others. When considering politics, Madara was reliable when it came down to it, but Izuna seemed born for it. He was crafty as a spider and as clever as a devil.

"I'm not sure I want to know how you got them to accept, that's not important." Sakura switched her focus of attention from Izuna to Madara. "But why are you so upset about having to work with them? You weren't like this when it came to any of the other clans?"

"We don't get along well with the Hyuga."

Sakura rolled her eyes at Madara's answer. "You don't get along with most of the world, but how are the Hyuga different? Is it because of their dojutsu?"

Madara waved a hand between them and then pushed his half empty fruit bowl away. "That's part of the reason, I suppose. I don't feel the urgency to bring another clan into our fold so soon. Hashirama's brother sounded so concerned about the number of civilians but the Uchiha have never had much of an issue managing relations with civilians. The village should grow to be mostly civilian with a strong military to protect them. We're a village not a war camp."

Sakura hummed. "Hashirama has several brothers, but I'm going to assume you mean Tobirama."

"He say something to you about it?" Madara asked.

There was no tone of apology in his voice for refusing to address the younger Senju by his name and Sakura knew better than to hold her breath. Madara might not dislike Tobirama as much as Izuna, who downright  _loathed_  the Senju, but Madara disliked Tobirama the most out of all Hashirama's blood relations.

"It's been discussed more than once, but yeah, he did mention something like that to me at one point. I don't think he was considering going after the Huyga to try and court them over to our side. He doesn't seem especially fond of them."

"Is he fond of anyone?" Izuna huffed.

Sakura winced and shook her hand in a gesture that probably meant something along the lines of 'not so much.'

"Cut the kid some slack. We can't all be casanovas." She then eyed Izuna meaningfully and he flushed in response.

"Regardless, I don't think you've shared your view on all this yet. What do you think about the Hyuga?" Madara asked, watching Sakura. He wasn't subtle like his brother, he only knew how to ask the questions to someone's face. Sakura appreciated that.

"I'm not thrilled about it, to be honest, only because I know what they think of me. They're not thrilled to have to work with someone who has been called a 'god' before. There were even rumors that their ancestors were god killers thanks to their dojutsu. They make…Kaguya stir sometimes."

Madara went still and Izuna looked up. "What?" the younger asked. "What do you mean by stir?"

"More than any other name or clan that's been discussed, she seems the most interested when the Hyuga are mentioned, but I don't know why. That and-"

Sakura caught herself, remembering the warnings to bring both Madara and Hashirama back to that cave. It was an old warning that never resulted in anything, so Sakura had kept it to herself. She didn't want the boys knowing and accidentally becoming willing to quest to her curiosities.

"Do you not want us to deal with the Hyuga?" Izuna asked, expression growing darker as he searched her face for signs of distress.

"It's nothing like that. I think they'd actually make a valuable addition to the rest of the village and….with time…fit in nicely," Sakura said.

Her thoughts were of Hinata and Neji, friends from another lifetime she missed more than she thought she had the right to. It had been so long since she last thought of the cousins she bled and fought sides during the last war.

"If you don't like it, we'd say something," Madara said.

"I know." Sakura can't keep herself from laughing. "That's why I didn't want to bring it up. It's nothing serious, just a little anxiety I guess. If I take away my personal feelings, this move would be a huge benefit to everyone, even I see that, and I'm sure nothing terrible with come of it. They'll be pains in our asses, but what else is new."

"Nothing new there," Madara interjects before coughing loudly. "Enough of this talking. I get enough of it when I have to wear the damn robe, I would prefer to avoid it when I'm in my own home seeing old friends. Sakura, tell me something else, something that doesn't make us sound like crafty clan plotters."

"Big baby," Izuna mumbled under his breath, lifting the bowl to his lips to bring the last few juicy pieces close enough to reach out and grab with his teeth.

"I actually have to get going to the hospital pretty soon. If I don't there will be a mess between the new and the old. I feel more like a babysitter than a doctor most days." Sakura stood and patted out the wrinkles of her sparring trousers, the ones that were tied and wrapped down around her ankles. She glanced over at the boys before adding, "At least when I was watching you guys I enjoyed it."

"We have that effect on women," Izuna quipped back without hesitation, his words spilling out like smooth silk.

Sakura snorted and then laughed loud and high, covering her mouth with her hand as her eyes wet with mirth fed tears. "I'm sure you do, lady killer Izuna." Sakura rubbed her hand over her mouth to try and ease the smile off, but it stayed in place.

Madara chuckled at the way Izuna flushed with color. Izuna wasn't stupid enough to not know about his famous monicker, but it never bothered him until it came out of Sakura's mouth. For as crafty as he was, Izuna was little better than a mess when it came to Sakura. He could try to be suave and dashing, but all his efforts to be the seductive Uchiha that girls gossiped about fell apart at the first sign of Sakura's smile.

Madara watched his younger brother fluster and grow darker with red color as Sakura reached over to kiss the top of his head, running a hand through his hair like an afterthought before turning towards the door. She grabbed the handle to roll it back.

"You're really leaving?" Izuna sputtered. "No fair. You spent way more time with Madara than you did with me." He didn't seem to care how childish he sounded.

Sakura crossed the threshold out of the room into the hallway but turned back to smile reassuringly. "Don't worry. I'll have another free day coming up soon. We'll do something then, Izuna." She glanced sideways at Madara who had turned around to watch her leave. She winked goodbye and then slid the door shut behind her.

It wasn't more than four seconds later before Izuna was at Madara's shoulder, red eyes spinning. "What was that for?" he hissed darkly.

"What? What was  _what_  for?" Madara sputtered.

"She winked at you! What was that for? She didn't wink at me."

"Don't whine about it. You got a  _kiss_ , you should be over the moon right now. Don't get upset with me." Madara frowned and shoved his brother back, less apt to defend the innocence of Sakura's gestures. "You're terrible when it comes to Sakura and its only gotten worse. She's not your friend exclusively, you know, she's allowed to have other friends."

Izuna sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't want to just be her  _friend_."

Madara screwed his eyes shut. "I know, damn it you obvious bastard, at least pretend to be… discrete or whatever about it. You're like a youth in love for the first time. Aren't you over this already? It's been years and you're not a kid anymore. What about the…the girl you sat at our table. Kagami, Kagome?"

Izuna's expression darkened. "What about her?"

"You two seemed close at one point. You had a falling out since then?"

"You misunderstand, brother. A mere girl from the old Hagotomo clan isn't going to make an Uchiha like me think twice. If you thought we looked close it was only wishful thinking on your part." Izuna's expression narrowed. "But you would like that, wouldn't you? If I paired up neatly with another girl and I got out of your way it would be easier to do things with Sakura, like spar in the early morning and have lunches and breakfasts together. You never mentioned Sakura was your sparring buddy, or that she would be at breakfast."

Madara waved his brother off. "You're reading too deeply into it. I can count the number of people I trust to death on one hand and Sakura is there, right after you, so don't blame me if I want to hang out with one of my best friends who I also happen to admire as a…a mentor of sorts."

" _Mentor_." Izuna huffed and raised an eyebrow in mock disbelief. "You don't talk to her like she's a mentor."

"Izuna, stop trying to see things that aren't there. I'm not like you."

The younger brother folded his arms back into his sleeves and looked past his brother's shoulder to the door Sakura had left out of. The expression on his face was carefully blank. "So you say, but you don't need to waste your breath convincing me. It makes no difference one way or the other."

Smoothly, Izuna climbed to his feet and nodded goodbye to his brother. Madara watched Izuna go but said nothing. The brothers were past speech. No matter way was said between them, there were truths between them that couldn't be communicated with words, nor hidden with them.

* * *

Sakura set the bone back in place and bit back the wince when it slipped back together. Toka Senju's eyes were weirdly fixed on a place past Sakura's shoulder but the older Senju didn't flinch for her own pain or discomfort, moving Sakura to marvel.

"One more moment, Senju san," Sakura whispered, channeling her chakra down to the site to stimulate new growth between the broken parts of her bone.

It was always such a sluggish process when it came to healing bones, compared to flesh and bruises. The bone wouldn't be completely healed by their end of their visit, but Sakura was confident it wouldn't take much longer to heal on its own if she could jump start the process. She didn't trust Toka to heed 'Doctor's Orders' and rest for as long as she needed. She was more Tobirama than Hashirama.

"Will I need to wear a sling?" Toka asked, blinking and fixing her eyes back on Sakura's face. There was still a distance in her eyes that came from ignoring pain so well.

"Yes, but only for a few days. If you come back in three days time I'll have one of the medics here finish the process or you can wait the recommended week and a half for it to finish healing on its own."

Toka's lips twitched down. "I'll be back in the three days. Who will see to me?"

"Someone from my garden most likely. I'm still training a few of the new recruits. Bones are tricky."

Toka watched Sakura a moment more before speaking. "You trust the new recruits?"

Sakura nodded slowly, still mostly focused on the healing. "Yes. Some of them are a bit puffed up and filled with self importance, but for the most part I trust all of them to stay true to the heart of healing, even if that means they still don't like me." Sakura looked up to meet the Senju's eyes. "I wouldn't let them practice in my hospital if I didn't trust them."

Toka nodded slowly. "It can be difficult for shinobi with our history to be vulnerable to strangers. Sex, sleep, shitting, and this…" she nodded to her arm, "all are times when our guard is at its lowest. Trust is vital to ensure the continuation of this establishment."

Sakura almost blushed but didn't. Toka had the same bland humor Tobirama had been blessed with, but didn't seem to realize it. "You sound like your cousin, but I don't know if Tobirama would ever say 'shitting' to my face."

"I have been told that before, that my cousin and I share this similarity, but I would remind you that not all Senju are as bubbly and outgoing as our Hashirama sama."

"Is anyone?" Sakura joked.

Toka furrowed her brow, as if contemplating Sakura's question seriously. She might have answered it too, but Sakura pulled her hand back and beamed proudly at her work.

"All done. You look much better. Let's get you in a sling before I let you go," she chirped.

Toka turned her arm over slowly, wincing at the dull pain she hadn't quite expected. Her arm looked healed. Only a small pink line in the skin remained from the injury that had once been far greater. The bone beneath would still need some more time to heal, but it was amazing to see how skillful Sakura was at something so seemingly insignificant.

"I need to thank you," Toka murmured, still staring at her arm is soft wonder.

Sakura smiled as she slipped the taller woman into a sling that looped behind her neck. "Don't think of it. This is my pleasure and the whole reason I'm here. I'm a medic."

Toka hummed in acknowledgment. "I don't know if I would do what you do if I could do what you do."

The words sounded silly and confused Sakura for a moment before realization dawned on her. Toka was a shinobi down to her teeth, forged like fine steel through war and blood. She had worked hard to survive and come as far as she had. More than once, Toka's life had been risked, and the things Sakura was known to be capable of, was something that drew envy from men and women alike. With power like that, who would ever have to fear again?

"It's good to be strong so that you may survive and protect your loved ones, but it is also good to be able to take care of the people most precious to you. Do you know any basic medical jutsu?"

Toka shook her head.

"One of my friends Miko usually runs a first aid class for shinobi, just going over the basics, but she's pregnant again so Rei and Rita will be leading the classes at night. If you feel like you would be up to it, I would suggest picking up some skills there. It might do you some good the next time someone on your team gets hurt."

Sakura knows there is a shadow of manipulation to her words, but shinobi are so much more willing to learn something like medical jutsu and first aid if it's for the sake of their comrades. Few want the knowledge for themselves.

"That might be something I could look into. Thank you Sakura san. I will be back in three days, but for now I should get going. It sounds like you have a visitor."

Sakura turned, sensing the familiar chakra too. Toka opened the door and let herself out, passing Kawarama with a shallow nod of greeting and nothing more.

Sakura's grin was almost as big as Kawarama's. "Hey!" she exclaimed, opening her arms to fold the teenager into a careful hug. "I've missed you."

"I just got back. I didn't need to come to the hospital but I wanted to because I thought you would be here." Kawarama pulled back enough to look up at her face and grin. "And I was right."

Sakura kissed the top of his head, hating how it was getting harder and hard to reach as he grew up even more for her. Soon he would be just as tall as her and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She felt old.

"I wasn't worried, but I did miss you. Tell me what you can about how your mission went. It looks like you're in one piece so I'm going to assume you were successful?"

"Yeah, yeah, we kicked butt. It was pretty boring actually. We were just doing stuff that I could have done when I was eight, you know. Hashirama nii isn't giving me tough missions like with Tobi nii."

Sakura mouthed back some of his blond hair. "I'm not going to complain for you. I know you're plenty strong and can take care of yourself, but I'm selfish and I want you always to be safe."

"You don't care when Tobi nii goes out on dangerous missions," he pouts.

Sakura tries to hide her smile. "Don't tell him this, but you're my favorite."

Kawarama tries to keep his angry pout in place, but it melts off and he has to burry his head in her shoulder to hide his face. He can't help but smile and she knows it.

"No fair," he mumbles.

Sakura's hand goes back to his hair. "I'm really glad you're back and you're safe though. How is Kurama? Have you two been getting along any better?"

Sakura felt him shrug and let him pull away when he tried. "I guess a little. He talks to me more, but he's still sour about stuff and its frustrating. He did lend me chakra once, but that was for a sorta emergency and then he didn't want to share anything more when I asked him about it later. He's such an old man, he's worse that Tobi nii."

"Tobirama isn't that old though."

"Tobirama was born a senior citizen, it doesn't matter what his age is, he's oooooooold."

Sakura hummed in acknowledgment. "I guess that does make sense, but don't let him hear you talking about him like that. He'll get upset and you don't want that."

Kawarama stared down at his sandals. "I'm not afraid of him. I know his weakness."

That made Sakura's interest spike. "Oh?" she cooed. "He has a weakness I don't know about. You haven't told me about this? When were you planning on sharing this highly valued intelligence?"

His grin turned mischievous in a way that reminded her too much of Naruto. "Ah, I think it would lose its power if you found out about it so it's just me and Kurama for now."

"You tease me too much, my heart won't be able to survive much more," she sighed in mock distress. "And here I was going to ask you your help in planning a top secret party but now I don't know if I can trust you and all your secrets."

She saw the way his interest caught like a fish on a hook, fixating on her words. "What secret party? For who?"

Sakura shrugged her shoulders and made sure her face was a mask of indifference as she turned back towards the table along the wall to pick up her papers.

She was trying to get more of the nurses to keep paper files on their patients, but there were more shinobi who wanted to remain anonymous than not, so only a few patients had files. Once the hospital built up a bit more Sakura was going to make documentation a condition of treatment. Some things she really missed, but paperwork was one of those things she was only half disappointed about not having. It meant less work for her, after all.

"Who is it for? What are you already planning?" Kawarama whined, tugging at her arm. "Don't be mean to me like this. I was only teasing about Tobi nii you know."

"I don't believe that for a second, but every good shinobi is allowed to have a few secrets, even from their mother, so I'll let it slide. I need your help planning a party for Izuna Uchiha. Madara is great but he's pathetic when it comes to these sort of things so you know I just have to save the day, right? You willing to help me?"

Kawarama's grin was just as bright as the sky in his eyes. "Of course!"

"Good, we're starting as soon as I go on break for lunch."

"When's that?"

Her grin was just as wide as his. "Now."

* * *

"I'm not an elder, so this meeting won't be as beneficial as you might hope it to be," Itama said, sitting down across the tea table from the older man with long brown hair.

Beside him, Mito Uzumaki sat down as well, silent for once as she kept her eyes downcast and expression disinterested.

"You misunderstand my intentions if you think I am trying to do anything more than assess the risk of our potential merger, Senju san. A lot relies on my decisions and I must upturn ever stone before I build my house on unsure foundations."

"Of course, Hyuga san. What can I do for you?" Itama asks, inclining his head just enough to be polite, but not enough to show submission. Beside him Mito is a pillar.

"I am most interested in the status of your god, Senju san."

.

 


	31. Chapter 31

The planning of Izuna's birthday party flowed smoothly until it didn't. Sakura anticipated there would be complications with balancing so many different responsibilities and had utilized Naruto's favorite jutsu to help her regulate multiple tasks, even if one of those tasks was meditating. If she had a clone sit and rest, the mental calm came to Sakura not soon after the clone was dismissed.

A Sakura attended meetings with clan leaders, another Sakura treated children at the hospital, and a third Sakura planned the details for Izuna's party. It wasn't too much for her, mentally, but that was before she got caught.

"How do you know that jutsu?"

The pair of Sakura's groaned together before one dismissed herself in a cloud of excess chakra. The banner she had been holding up fluttered to the ground, twisting in the air like the dragon it was cut to resemble. There were several delicate paper decorations that Sakura had cut out to resemble an ancient battle between demons and gods. Izuna loved mythology and dramas. It was rare for him to get out an enjoy the theater, but Madara had told Sakura that he would enjoy such a theme for his party.

Tobirama's eyes narrowed. "That isn't a genjutsu, it's solid. What did you use for the base? Water? Wood?"

"It's a shadow clone," Sakura explained. "I fashioned it out of shadow and light."

Something made the second Senju son tense. "Then it  _is_  possible. I thought….I had been theorizing on my own but I didn't think…" Suddenly he looked up with renewed intensity. "Teach me this."

"I'm not going to do that. If you were thinking about it on your own you would have gotten it eventually all on your own. If I tell you now you'll never figure it out on your own. I'd be robbing you of the learning experience."

Internally, Sakura worried that in this version of altered reality Tobirama's destiny wasn't to craft dozens of different jutsu that would make him go down in history as the father of many well used techniques. Still, she trusted Tobirama to figure it out for himself after seeing her preform it more than once. He had been making water clones since he was a boy, after all.

"At least give me some pointers, or guide me when I stray too far. You have taught others, what is it about me that makes you recoil?"

Sakura stared down her nose at Tobirama, seemingly unimpressed by his claim. "If I recall correctly, once upon a time when I tried to teach you something, you called me a witch and walked away, or was that a different Senju with silver hair and pretty red eyes?"

She didn't miss the way his ears turned red at the teasing. Likely he was embarassed from being chastised. Maybe she shouldn't have been so sassy with him. Normally he didn't react to such silly things.

"I realize that now."

Tobirama looked away, avoiding his eyes like he would when he was younger. He seemed to realize what he was doing and forced his gaze to find her again, with a degree of visible effort. He inhaled and nodded to himself.

"I would like to humbly request your guidance on chakra theory. I know you are a brilliantly skilled medic, but I believe you are also an intelligent individual when it comes to studying chakra. I have tried talking to my brother about such things, but Hashirama's understanding of chakra and chakra theory is driven by feeling more than thought."

Sakura regarded Tobirama again before answering.

"I suppose so. He's always been a brilliant child with plenty of natural advantages. It is hard for people like that to slow down enough to even ask the questions of why the things they do happen. It is to your credit that someone as talented as you still seeks to understand what drives their jutsu." Sakura stared down at the paper cut-out of the dragon and sighed. "Fine. I will help you. I guess it is only fair that I do what I can to help my fellow villager. But, there is a lot going on right now. It might be a while before I can find the time for us to study together."

Tobirama followed her gaze to the paper dragon. "I could help you craft the decorations for the party."

Sakura laughed, not missing how he purposefully avoided mentioning who the party was for. "I thought you would try to avoid this one."

Tobirama sighed, approaching the place where her dismissed clone had once stood. "I did not have a choice in the matter, even though I am sure the birthday boy would have far more fun without me there. Really, I was just trying to give the Uchiha a gift."

"The gift of what?"

He looked up, expression criminally blank. "My absence."

Sakura felt the laugh in her chest before she could stop herself and doubled over, hands on her lips trying to muffle the sound coming out of her. It was no use.

"Oi, it wasn't that funny!"

"But it was your face, you-your face!"

Tobirama sputtered, turning red. "What is wrong with my face?"

"Yo-your face," was all Sakura could manage.

The angrier he looked the funnier it became and she hated to admit it, but she needed a laugh. Too many dour days made her hungry for a good laugh. She was starved for joy.

"It's not funny, you can stop that now," Tobirama grumbled. He crossed his arms over his chest again, returning his expression to its usual glower in spite of how his ears still burned red.

"I'm sorry Tobi, but it really was funny and I've been waiting for something to laugh at for such a long time now it seems," Sakura breathed, holding onto her sides that cramped from all the laughing.

"Tobi?" He made a dismissive sound with his tongue and teeth. His ears were still red. "I should think by now you know my name and how to use it."

"I remember well enough how little you cared for nicknames as a child. I can see some things never change. Ah, will you help me roll this dragon back up without wrinkling it? When they're this large they're hard to manage with just one set of hands."

"The shadow clone jutsu?"

Sakura huffed and flapped her hands at the paper dragon on the ground. "Yes, yes, all in good time. Help me with this first, why don't you? Don't be rude when a lady asks you for help."

"You're less of a lady and more of a monster," Tobirama muttered under his breath. He should have known better.

"What was that?" Sakura chirped, smile stretched thin and tight.

Tobirama ducked his head and power walked over to the end of the dragon that needed to be rolled up. "This was the piece you said you needed help with?"

Sakura hummed in tense contentment. "That's what I thought. Please be careful about that part. I have the canister it will be kept safe inside of right here."

The two worked together to pack up and store all of the handmade decorations. And while it might have been faster with a clone that could read her thoughts and know her instructions without any verbal cues, Tobirama was actually a bit more pleasant company than another clone.

He was easier to get a rise out of when she teased him. It was harder as he got older, he wasn't a kid anymore after all, but it was good to see she could still turn his ears red. She thought that she might never get tired of teasing Tobirama, but forced herself to keep her teasing to a minimum so he didn't decide that training with her was more trouble than it was worth.

"You'll really be there?" Sakura asked over a folded crane made out of pink paper. There was a box of them meant to decorate the tables and hang from the doorways. Izuna would get the wish from the folder of the thousandth crane once Sakura finished that many.

"I told you I would be," he grumbled.

"Yeah, but do you mean it?"

"When do I not mean what I say? You must have me confused with that two faced Uchiha prince who talks out of both sides of his mouth."

Sakura snickered. "You really can't say his name, can you?"

"Why should I?"

"Because it is his birthday we are planning for."

Tobirama made that same dismissive sound with his teeth and his tongue. "Don't ever do this for me."

Sakura slapped her palms down on the low table. "What? You don't want a party? What am I going to do with all the wolf decorations?"

Tobirama glared lightly. "Not funny."

Sakura made a face. "You know we're going to do  _something_."

"I would be happy with just a simple dinner with just family."

"Fiiiiiiiiine, I get it. I'll stay out of it. Let me know how you guys enjoy dinner together."

Tobirama looked up from the box of cranes he was loading. "Why would I have to do that? You would be there," he said, speaking as if he were explaining something obvious.

Sakura tossed a crane at his face. "You said just your family, duh."

He picked up the crane and replaced it in the box. "You are family, silly woman."

Sakura couldn't find her words after that, but Tobirama didn't tease her or make her feel bad for the way her ears turned red from his words.

* * *

_Take them to the cave._

_To the cave._

_Bring those boys._

_To the cave, to the cave._

_Bring them to the cave!_

Sakura woke from her dreaming feeling like she had been drowning in a song. Kaguya was oddly distant and cryptic whenever Sakura tried to ask her for clarification about why it was important to bring Hashirama and Madara to the cave with the world's history painted on stone. It was special to Kaguya, that much was for sure, but Sakura couldn't understand why it would be important for Madara and Hashirama.

Sakura had fallen asleep at her desk at the hospital in the middle of the day and was paying the price for it if the grooves she felt on her face had anything to say about it. She got up to check a mirror and groaned when she remembered that mirrors were a little more rare and hard to come by. She wasn't in such a time, after all.

Sakura created a mirror for herself with barely any thought to using something as opulent as Creation of All Things Technique to make something as simple as a mirror. She sighed when she saw the lines down her face from where she had fallen asleep atop the papers left behind from yesterday.

She had meant to get to them first thing in the morning, but there had been another dispute between the new staff and the girls she had brought with her from the garden. As terrible as it was to think it, Sakura knew that all it would take would be one really bad attack or one bad day to get the two groups to break and work together without thought or care for their reputation or principals. But there was nothing so terrible on the horizon so it was up to Sakura to personally see to each and every argument.

One thing led to another and then the papers had doubled. It took all morning and into the afternoon to get them sorted and signed. Sakura had thought she would take a little nap, but that had been hours ago. She had only wanted to doze for many 20 minutes, but already she could tell it was late afternoon. She had wasted too much time already.

The party was that night, after all.

"I must have worn myself out, staying up late to finish the decorations and read the proposals. Ugh, those were terribly boring," Sakura said out loud.

There was only silence. No Kaguya and no inner. That was fine. It didn't freak her out or alarm her, because Sakura could feel both presences in her mind when she reached for them, but both were quiet. Neither seemed willing to speak up and Sakura had noticed that they seemed harder and hard to reach the older she got or the longer she stayed in this altered time line.

Had she phased out of needing the support of her inner? Had she outgrown Kaguya? Nothing made sense, but there wasn't really any danger she could sense, so Sakura didn't see the use is pressing the issue.

She returned home and dressed for the party. She knew Kawarama would pick her up, but she didn't know he would surprise her with how neatly he had combed back his hair and dressed in a crisp black and mustard yellow yukata that complemented his fare features.

Sakura opened the door, caught sight of him, and almost reintroduced herself. "Kawarama?"

"What? Why are you looking at me like that? Is it the hair? Darn it, I knew this was too much. I look better with it grown out and wild," he grumbled.

"No. You look so handsome," Sakura breathed, feeling her heart pinch. "You've really grown a lot, haven't you?"

"Not that much."

Sakura felt aged in a way she hadn't before. Kawarama came to just above her shoulders, but he was filling out and soon he would surpass her. Soon he would be too big to hold and cradle. It made her ache in a new way. For some reason she started to cry.

Kawarama saw her eyes turn glossy and red along the edges and started to panic. When the first tear fell he reached to push her back inside and sit her down in a seat before rushing off to fill a cup of water for her. He was cursing under her breath but she didn't bother to admonish him for the use of 'adult' language because he really was…nearly… and adult. The baby of the Senju was just about grown up.

"Are you okay?" he asked, pushing the cup into her hands. "Are you hurt somewhere?"

She felt his hands on her face, wiping away the tears.

"I'm fine, honey. I just felt old all of a sudden."

Kawarama pulled back and scrunched up his face in a way that almost looked like how Sakura would when she did the same thing. "What? Why would you say something like that? You're not old. You're still so young looking and you're energetic and full of life and you can do anything. Who called you old? I'll beat them up!"

Sakura set the cup of water aside, not bothering to drink from it, and pulled Kawarama in for a hug. She tucked his head into her neck's crook and kissed the top of his head. "I love you a lot, I'm sorry I scared you just now. I think I've just been…oddly sentimental these days. Don't worry about it."

Kawarama pulled away and held her hands, looking up into her eyes, searching her face for signs of distress. "Are you sure you're okay? I don't want to go to a party if it's going to make you miserable."

"It's not the party, silly. When you're old you get emotional about stupid things like getting old and watching your babies grow up on you. I remember when I could tuck you under my arm. That was so long ago."

"You can still tuck me under your arm and carry me around, I just don't fit as well," Kawarama teased. "You're strong enough to pick me up and you always will be. Whenever you feel too sad about getting old you can just lift me up, how about that?"

Sakura laughed. "Thank you Kawarama. I feel better. You are the sweetest, you know that right?" Her smile turned mischievous, the way it always did. "Just promise to tell me ahead of time if you decide to follow Itama's example and get engaged super young. I want to know as soon as you find yourself a girl."

"Eww, mom!" Kawarama exclaimed, backing up and waving his hands to create distance between them. "Gross, don't tease me about stuff like that. Itama's girl is crazy and I'm not going to end up like him."

Sakura laughed. "You say that now but you might change your mind one day. I'm not saying you have to, but  _if_  you do, just let me know."

"Moooooom," he groaned, loud and long.

Sakura laughed but stood up to meet him by the doorway. "Sorry, sorry. But you know teasing you just helps me feel a little bit better. I don't think I could walk out on your arm without crying again otherwise."

"Don't do that on my new yukata. Hashirama nii picked it out for me."

"Your brother has a good eye for these sort of things." Sakura leaned back to observe the seal painted onto the fabric, of a multi tailed fox in red orange paint. "And I love this personal touch."

Kawarama flinched like the touch tickled him. "Yeah, he liked it too."

"You mean Kurama?" Sakura gasped. "How is he doing? How are the two of you getting along?"

"He's sort of a dick."

Sakura snorted. "Okay?" She nudged him to go on.

Kawarama groaned but opened his mouth to reply in more detail. "He's just rude about things and he thinks he's the biggest deal there is, like he's a god or something. He has such a huge ego it's hard to get along with him sometimes. Also, he is a pervert."

Sakura didn't miss the way Kawarama winced and guessed it didn't have to do with anything she said or did, but with how Kurama reacted internally. Unlike Naruto, Kawarama had worked actively from the first day to now, on establishing a channel of communication with the nine tailed fox. The two spoke more and had greater access to one another than Naruto had in the beginning.

Kurama the fox couldn't control Kawarama or make him do anything he didn't want to, but Sakura guessed that every time Kawarama said something rude about him, Kurama would scream at the boy from inside his cage. That was what made Kawarama flinch.

"He can be hard to get along with, but you're talking and you're trying, so I'm proud of you. I'm also glad that Kurama has someone who is trying to help him, someone like you."

"He doesn't think I'm helping him. He treats me like I'm the worst for keeping him in a cage."

Sakura hummed in understanding. "What would he like to do if he was free to roam as he pleased?"

Kawarama paused, mentally relaying the question to the fox before answering her. "He says he would do whatever the hell he wanted."

"And?"

"That's it."

"Would he roam on his own, go away to places where no one knows his name?" Sakura asked, leaning her head on his shoulder as the Uchiha homes came into view. Izuna was out, but he would be back within the hour.

"Maybe….he's just grumbling about it now."

"Tell him this from me, then. It's too lonely when no one knows your name. It's much better to have a home to come back to where they'll tell you 'welcome back' and care if you are hurt." Sakura closed her eyes and remembered her own years alone. "I never want to live without a home to come back to again."

Kawarama pat her head. "You won't ever need to. As long as we're around, me and my brothers-ah-and the Uchiha too, there will always be people to welcome you home."

Sakura chuckled, feeling lighter from his words. "You're a good kid, Kawarama."

He chuckled, blushing lightly. "Thanks, mom."

When the pair arrived Madara was there to hurry them alone to the back of the house he had decorated with Hashirama's help. There he and the others all positioned themselves around the banquet table and made room for when Izuna and Sasuke Sarutobi would arrive.

Mito and Itama both grinned at look shared between them before showing off their paper bombs. Sakura showed off her own and matched their grins with one just as wide.

In addition to his old friends and family, Izuna had grown close with the clan head of the Sarutobi group. Sasuke, a man Sakura remembered her own teammate being named after, was a strong shinobi who burned with the will of fire before there was even a name for it, and he reminded Sakura of a young Hiruzen Sarutobi…even though he was Hiruzen's ancestor-no, father!

"This looks fantastic, guys," Sakura whispered to the group as they listened in wait for the birthday boy. The walls dripped with turning, twisting dragons, and the archways were decorated with hundreds of colored paper cranes. The table was set with them too.

"You're the one who made just hung it up," Madara chuckled.

"You've bot an eye for it," Sakura giggled.

"Shhhhh, you two," Hashirama admonished. He pointed to the doors and everyone leaned in, listening. Sure enough, Sasuke laughed loudly and led Izuna to the back room so obviously. Each member in the room readied their paper bombs.

"And that's when I knew I was going to make her the booties for our-Happy Birthday!"

Pink petals and red maple leaves exploded overhead as each person detonated a paper bomb that exploded into colorful confetti. Even Sasuke had one ready for the surprise, but his exploded into white stars.

"Wha-what?" Izuna breathed, eyes wide. His Sharingan were spinning, taking everything in and attempting to make sense of the scene in front of him. His mouth was still wide open when he tok the first step in. "What?"

"Happy birthday, you idiot," Madara laughed, fondly. He stepped forward first to take his brother into a hug. "It's a surprise party, duh."

"I can see that much, but why-how did you do this all? I didn't think you would put something like this together." He glanced about the room, from Sasuke to Kawarama and then back to Sakura.

"Don't be too shocked. It's something fun and easy. Come on over and have a seat. We reserved seats for you and Sasuke. Come on before the actors show up."

"Actors, for what?" Izuna laughed as he approached the table.

The head seat was reserved for him while Madara sat to his right and Sasuke his left. After Madara, Hashirama, Itama and Mito sat. After Sasuke, Tobirama, Sakura, and Kawarama sat. Izuna almost said something about Tobirama sitting so close to him, but Sasuke was friendly with the both of them and Izuna was in a great mood, so he kept his mouth shut.

Not long after they were all seated their food came out, all things Izuna delighted in. But what really made him gasp and straighten in his seat was when the room dimmed and the doors opened for a handful of acres in dress to slip in. Behind them the silk screens with their stage settings followed.

"We hired them from a traveling merchant guild. They came her especially for this show tonight, but they'll be entertaining other families the rest of the week," Madara told his brother.

Izuna stared up at his brother with eyes glossy and clear. "You knew how much I love plays. Thank you."

Madara grinned over at his brother. "Of course. Sakura found them but I got to pick the plays for tonight because I said I would know your taste best of all."

"Oh god it's not a erotica act, is it?" Tobirama grumbled.

Izuna turned sharply in his seat and glared. "No, and they're called passionate romances for your information."

Tobirama huffed and closed his eyes. He leaned back in his seat and stared down from the table to the floor where the actors were situating themselves. An Uchiha maid operated the lights in the room, adjusting the flames with a jutsu per the directions of the actors.

One of them brought out a koto and a shamisen. The woman on to koto began while a man sang about a story about a far away place where an emperor ruled with power and might, but loved his life with just as much power, yet there was no child. The empress wept for a child but could not conceive.

A light came on showing an actress dressed like an empresses and another dressed like a demon hag. The hag told the woman the secret to how to have a child. She must eat the red rose in her garden for a boy, or the white for a girl, but not both.

The group sat spellbound as the story was told in song and acts, of how the queen made the mistake by eating both, and giving birth to a demon. But then there was a prince who came as natural and normal after his elder brother flew off on wings of bat like leather.

The prince grew up and desired a wife, but his monster brother demanded he be wed first, as was the law. But each night the demon devoured his bride, until there was no one brave enough to marry the prince. Until a girl as smart and wise as the demon discovered a way to break his spell and win his life.

Then there was another story completely sung on the koto of a man cursed by a witch and freed by a brave girl who fought for him against the monsters.

The third story was acted and told of a snowy land control by an empress of white. She took a boy as her slave, not knowing he was already loved by a girl who risked it all to save him again.

The room grew dim as the actors packed up and started to put their things away. The last story was sung to them about a boy who stumbled on a battle field and found a warrior woman who had slain a hundred demons on her own. He fell in love and married her, but did not heed her warnings to stay out of the forbidden rooms where she kept an immortal demon locked up. When he disobeys and frees her demon, she is taken to a far away land where he must use the aid of his bird friends to find a way to free her once more. Then, and only then, can she kill the demon and take them all home safe.

"You like your romances," Sasuke laughed.

"They were all good choices," Tobirama muttered, ears red. He turned sharply to glare at Izuna. "I'm not saying I agree with you just but they were all good stories."

Sasuke Sarutobi laughed between them and leaned back to shoot Madara an obvious look before he nodded backwards at Sakura, like she wasn't watching or seeing anything either man did. Sakura glared at the back of Sasuke's head and then shot Madara a look.

"Nah, I just thought it was interesting how the female roles were all pretty…um, important. They were all the saviors mostly except in the last one," said Sasuke. "Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

"Maybe, but I was saved once by a girl and that moment lives on in me as possibly the single most memorable moments of my life, for better or worse," Izuna answered, voice growing soft as both he and Madara remembered the last day they saw Sakura before her four years away. The day she saved both of them from almost death.

"They sounded amazing, regardless," Mito interrupted.

She clapped for the actors as they all came back into the room for a final send off. The rest of the table rose to clap and applaud their efforts with enthusiasm. A few looked embarassed by such loud praise, but all of the actors beamed brightly as they bowed and took their leave.

After dinner came wine, and after wine came the games that no one played without a little alcohol.

Outside the moon hung mostly full and round in the sky, painting much of the scenery in shades of white. The ponds on the Uchiha lands all held a little piece of the moon just like their sake cups when the party moved outside.

"It's lovely," Mito breathed as she leaned against Itama.

Sasuke missed his wife too much and left soon after that. Tobirama sent him off, walking with him out of the compound in a cleverly disguised ploy to got out of the party himself. Madara and Hashirama both made fun of Tobirama in his absence, complaining that he didn't know how to enjoy a good party when it bit him in the steel ass.

Kawarama stayed close to Sakura, but went off to speak with Kurama some time later, having felt the desire to comfort some suspicious Sakura had helped foster in his mind.

Izuna found Sakura with little prompting.

"Do you need more?" he asked, leaning close to her and pointing to her cup. Sakura was sitting on the grass in front of the nearest pond, watching the fish swim lazily under the moonlight before drifting off in sleep beneath the watery surface.

Sakura offer him her cup and he graciously filled it for her from the jug, but didn't pour any for himself.

"You didn't like it?" Sakura asked, noticing how his cup had been left behind on the blanket where several other bottles and jugs were set out.

"I loved it, but I know better than I once did what my limits are. I can't keep up with you and Madara so I don't think I'll make myself a sloppy mess trying to prove an impossible point." Izuna adjusted the sleeves of his yukata and sat down beside her.

"Are you enjoying your party at least?" Sakura asked.

Izuna grinned over at her. "Of course. I'm a little overwhelmed. It was such a blessing and a treat to be thought of like this. Thank you for all that you did. The decorations were all you, right?"

"Madara set them up."

Izuna snickered. "He had the servants do it."

"I''m sure he had a little more to do with it then that."

Izuna shot her a look that convinced her he didn't believe her. It made her want to laugh, but she wondered if it was because of the booze. She really wanted to laugh.

"Thank you."

"What?" Sakura asked, not realizing what his thank you was for.

"Thank you for all of it. Thank you for being here, thank you for doing all this for the party, and thank you for just thinking of me. I'm really glad that you hired the actors and used stories I like for the entertainment. I felt cared for. I felt like you really understood me."

"Madara chose the stories, remember? I just set up the business deal."

Izuna stared into the jug of sake and then glanced over at her cup. He reached to fill it for her, but paused before he started pouring to check and see if she was okay with more. She grinned and that was all the ok he needed to serve her.

"You shouldn't be pouring me a drink. I should be doing this for you. It's your night to be honored and celebrated."

"I've been celebrated enough, I want to honor you now."

Sakura hummed in appreciation. "You're too kind."

"I'd like to think I'm just the right amount of kind, actually. Speaking of that, I wanted to ask you how long you've been planning this. I've been thinking back on it and I want to know if that morning you had breakfast with us, after training with Madara….was that because you were both in on this together?"

"Did you suspect us even then? Ugh, we were trying our best to hide it from you and keep it a surprise though." Sakura pouted and then downed the rest of her drink. Izuna was quick to refill her cup.

"I was suspicious of you both then, but I didn't think it was a party you were planning. I thought you and my brother were seeing each other romantically-or he was trying to woo you."

Sakura almost choked on the sake at her lips. "Wh-what? How you- why would you think that?" She could feel her face turning red from the heat of embarrassment, even though it was late February and cold.

"I don't know. You were both acting odd and he mentioned how I was no longer close with another female member of the clan. I thought he was trying to distract me with someone different so that he could have you to himself. And you know, I would understand if you thought Madara would make a better provider and husband because he's sorta really suited to it. He'd take care of you well and you'd never have to worry about money or finances." Izuna started to ramble, breathing less between his thoughts as the words came out jumbled faster together.

"Hey!" Sakura touched his shoulder to stop the spill of vocab. "Hey, that's it now, hon, you can stop there. I'm not interested in Madara and he's not into me. It's all good, nothing like that is happening."

He stared at her for a moment and then nodded. "You don't think he likes you?"

"I hope he does, but I don't think he would see me romantically since I knew him when he was a kid half my height," Sakura chuckled.

"But he's not a kid half you height. Not now, not anymore. I'm not a kid either. We've all reached the age of majority here. And if you consider how you've not aged since consuming that god woman, we're now older than you are."

Sakura felt herself mentally recoil at the thought. She had considered it herself, once or twice, but it was something else to hear it out of Izuna's mouth. It was too much and felt too real. Her boys had grown up. They weren't tiny anymore. They were men now.

"I guess you're right, but it's hard for me to see it like that. I remember taking care of you all at times."

"When you look at me, do you still see a kid?" Izuna asked, leaning towards her.

Sakura wanted to answer on a reflex, but stopped herself. She looked Izuna over, and made an effort to really see him. He wasn't a kid anymore. He was a young man with a face even other Uchiha envied. Like Sasuke the Uchiha was in Sakura's personal childhood, Izuna had grown into his good looks and developed even more handsomely. In the moonlight he looked like something inhuman and ethereal.

Sakura suddenly felt very uncomfortable and her heart hurt as it strained to beat faster. Looking so intently at Izuna made her remember why she had fallen so hard for Sasuke back when she was a child. He had been as pretty as sin, but there was more to it than just good looks. Like Sasuke, Izuna had lonely eyes. Izuna, life of the party and personal snake charmer to lords and politicians alike, looked lonely.

"You're not a child."

Izuna seemed to brighten at her words.

"Then you see me as a man?"

Sakura slowly nodded. "But, not one that's older than me. I may look like this, but I'm still older than you. However,  yes, you're grown up now-all changed and different."

Izuna filled her cup again but when Sakura didn't lift it to her lips he took it for himself, watching her as he tipped the rim backwards. He paused only to speak, but kept the cup close to his mouth.

"Not completely changed. I may look like this but plenty of other things are still the same. I've been in love with you for all these years, after all."

Sakura knew this. She also knew that one day when Izuna confessed to her so seriously she would have to break his heart as gently as possible because she didn't want to hurt him. She knew she would have to. She knew this moment would one day come. She just didn't know it would hurt so bad.

"Izuna," Sakura breathed. Her throat felt like cotton and the words dried up inside her. She tried to say the rest but she couldn't make the sounds come out of her.

Izuna watched her fondly, and when he smiled it was almost sad. "I know what you're trying to say. I knew what you would say if I told you. I know you don't think of me romantically, but I want you to know how _I_ feel. I've always felt this way about you, and it's not a silly boy crush that children experience in fleeting fevers. I'm a man now, but I don't want to look at anyone else but you and it's always been you. I love you a lot."

"Izuna. I…."

"It's okay. I just wanted you to know. You don't have to reject me just yet because I'm not asking for anything from you. I'm happy with this for now," he said as he gestured to the space between them. "You're going to start seeing me more and more, not as a kid, but as a man. And one day I will make your heart throb for me, I promise you."

In the moonlight with his face gently highlighted by silver and eyes smoldering with determination, Sakura felt suddenly shy and giddy. It was so odd because Izuna shouldn't ever make her feel such things, but he had with just a few words. Maybe it was because he reminded her of Sasuke and all the dreams she had of one day hearing her crush say such things to her, or maybe it really was because of Izuna, but she couldn't deny that she felt shaken by his declaration.

"Where did you learn to talk like that?" Sakura breathed, feeling red all over and dangerously close to bursting out in giggles.

"I'm serious about you. When a man is serious about something he doesn't do anything half assed." Izuna set down the cup of sake and reached for her hand, which she let him take. "Please just hear me when I say it and believe me. It's not a crush and I know better. I'm serious, so start looking at me, okay?"

Numbly, Sakura felt herself nod her head, but still couldn't find the words to answer him properly. Not even Kaguya was giving her witty advice. Not even her lewd inner had something to say. Izuna made her feel bubbles all over.

Izuna finally smiled bright. Elated, he leaned forward and kissed the top of her head, but then leaned back to see her expression. She hadn't pulled away and it made him a little bold if his expression was any indicator. He leaned in again for another kiss, this time on her jaw. When she laughed he pulled away.

"Happy birthday to me I guess."

* * *

Kawarama met his brother for lunch but wasn't surprised when Mito tagged along. The pair were joined at the hip.

"Hey, I just saw you last night, what was it you wanted to talk about that you couldn't bring up at the party?" Itama asked as they sat down at their table in the tea house. Mito had already ordered for all of them.

"It's about Sakura. I almost made her cry the other day because I looked so grown up."

Itama chuckled, casting a side glance back at his wife to be. "That sounds like Sakura. She's always had a soft spot of kids and it must be hard to see them all grow up."

"She's not that different from a mom in these regards," Mito added.

Kawarama groaned, slouching in his seat. "She practically is my mom, but I think she's lonely. She doesn't have any kids anymore."

"It's called empty nest syndrome, where the parents of adult children feel like they live in an empty nest or an empty home and become sad or depressed about it. Most couples in retirement end up doing something fun about it if they don't have kids to worry about anymore, but most children marry and then stay with one set of parents," Mito added.

"But Sakura really isn't our mom," Itama added softly, knowing that to Kawarama, Sakura was literally his mother. His new life started when Sakura pulled him from death. It was a little different with Itama who had found a new path in life with Mito.

"She's practically my mom, but she's never had a dad counterpart, has she?" Kawarama mumbled, slouching even more in his seat. "Maybe that is her problem."

"I doubt it. Sakura's never seemed interested in changing her status and you know she doesn't age, so there isn't a need to marry and produce heirs," said Itama.

"Don't doubt that. She loved once upon a time. Maybe she's a bit too wounded to love like she had when she was a girl, but I doubt she is incapable of feeling romance in her heart again." Miko spoke with confidence. "And producing heirs isn't the only reason a woman would want to be with a man,  _baka_."

When she glared Itama had the good sense to look ashamed.

"I think….I think Sakura needs a boyfriend," Kawarama finally admitted, staring off into the distance without seeing anything. "I think she needs someone for her."

"I agree with you," Mito said, nodding sharply. "She deserves to be happy with someone too. She takes care of too many people. That should be flipped around this time."

"Aren't you forgetting something though? You mentioned she had someone when she was a girl, but that's all before she shared her body with Kaguya. Don't you think that would make romance a little hard?" asked Itama. "Maybe Sakura doesn't want to do anything because she feels like she can't."

Kawarama touched his stomach where the seal that kept the nine tailed fox in check lay hidden. Kurama had told him something similar once before, how Sakura's life would not grow or change so long as she was under the moon demon's control…whatever that meant. Kawarama just knew that Kurama hated Kaguya and wanted the two of them separated for Sakura's sake.

"Do you think we should introduce them, then?" Mito asked Itama from behind her hand.

Itama glanced at Kawarama and then again at Mito. "I don't like the feel of it, but I think an introduction is in order at the least. I'll ask to meet with Sakura tomorrow. Will you contact the other party?"

Mito nodded, turning back to Kawarama who was still staring off into the distance, unfocused. He touched his stomach through his clothes and looked lost in thought.

"I'll do it," Mito said. "I'll contact the Hyuga today."

* * *

Sakura stared at herself in the mirror, and then at the fistful of hair left in her hand. Long silky pink strings of hair that had been pulled tight and twisted into an intricate half bun the night before. They were limp between her fingers.

Sakura turned her wrist over and they fell to the floor without issue. She reached up and ran her hands through her hair one more time, not really believing what she was seeing. She wasn't rough, and didn't tug, but when she slipped her fingers free they came away with larger chunks of pink.

"Kaguya." She spoke aloud without realizing.

Silence.

Sakura shut her eyes and picked her way through the darkness of her mind, while feeling the way her hair fell off her hands and onto the floor at her feet with the rest.

In her mind she screamed for the woman from the moon. She yelled and yelled but there was no echo. It was impossible, she knew the presence was still somewhere within her. Kaguya's gifts still sat in her palms and atop her forehead. She was still bonded to the god she consumed.

"What's happening to me?" she screamed into the void.

"You're a doctor, shouldn't you know?"

Sakura recognized her own voice and turned, looking for her inner self between the shades of darkness in her mind. There was no one to see, but the voice was there...close even.

Heeding the words Sakura burned her chakra into the deep parts of her body and ran a self diagnosis, not unlike she had many times before. She had barely changed over the years, after all. There was more of her thanks to Kaguya, but that wasn't unusual.

Since consuming the god, she had never been terribly injured to the point where scars were left. Anytime something terrible happened she was flushed with brand new cells to replace the old ones she used up in healing. Now she felt she was half Sakura half Kaguya if the cell count really mattered-

"Idiot."

Sakura shivered at the feel of her inner's voice. There was no body-the strength didn't exist for one. There was sickness there. "What does this mean?"

"We didn't notice because nothing like this has ever happened before. Your body isn't rejecting the new cells...but it's starting to reject the old ones," said inner. "...You couldn't hear me."

"Kaguya!" Sakura screamed, sounding near frantic. "No, Kaguya! Bitch, I was finally happy! How dare you?"

Sakura felt a force around her but there were no hands to see as she shook with rage. "She tried to warn us. The cave remember?"

"What is that? What even is the cave? She never told me anything."

Sakura coughed and fell to her knees inside her own mind, feeling dizzy and overwhelmed the more it made sense. It was only the beginning, but she could see how her old self was passing on for the new self on a cellular level. She was a fool to think that power was truly hers.

"She couldn't. That's the stipulation for this old sort of magic."

"Chakra isn't magic."

Inner sighed. "Sure, of course not. Whatever it is, she couldn't speak it. She couldn't tell you. That was a condition of it. The cave is where she needs to go to die."

Sakura rocked back and forth, still not feeling well enough to stand. "Die? Was she so eager for death? What about me? I-"

"Only one of you is going to survive. You can't use any of her abilities or chakra anymore. Flush out her creation born cells and deal with the consequences. If you don't, you won't be Sakura anymore, you'll be Kaguya."

"I'll age."

Inner Sakura was almost visible when she stood in front of Sakura and spoke the words that existed in both their hearts. Inner Sakura was her logic and the hard truth that was sometimes too difficult to swallow.

"You've lived like a god long enough, now deal with the consequences before it is too late."


	32. Chapter 32

 

* * *

_Do not forget this truth._

_Their story did not have a happy ending. Happy endings were endings, the finishing of things. Their story cycled into the hibernation of another ancient pattern doomed to be repeated in a later generation. Her boys died to save the world and all it had achieved was a handful of years meant for peace._

_But it was peace, and hoards of people were too tired and too lost and too broken to believe it was anything less than what they had been fighting and dying for all along. The fatherless drank deep cups of sake in a shared tent and sang until they couldn't feel the tears on their face anymore._

_To them it was enough._

_Not for her._

_Sakura felt cursed with her inability to let go and see the resolution to their conflict as anything less than what it was. She couldn't lie to her self, (though she tried), and believe things were okay. No, her boys were dead and that force was not yet defeated. Their last, best hope hadn't been enough to lay the moon goddess to rest for good. The mother of all chakra still remained, but Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi were all gone._

_She was alone, and that was why she dug through the ancient tree, peeling back bark and acid sap and carving out chunks of the innermost wood before reaching the nub of gelatin like coating that housed the immortal. Sakura's body was decaying fast, burning down to bones, but she peeled it back and broke the pod open, yin seal blow wide and glowing._

* * *

 

It was easy to hide what she had lost. Her hair was long enough she could let it collect into a low pony tail she folded over her front shoulder. Kawarama said she looked  _too_  much like a mom when she wore her hair like that, so she settled for a low and lose braid that trailed down her back. She didn't put it up, she didn't pin it back, and she didn't put anything in it. There were hairpins, gifts from the boys, she wanted to wear, but didn't dare. She was still waking up with clumps of pink on her pillow.

Mito had invited her to lunch with Itama and a few friends.

Sakura heard herself snort.

It was hard to think of the Hyuga as  _friends_  to anyone in this time period. They had requested a formal assemble with her and sent ahead of them a list of requirements for her to adhere to before being seen by their head. The color, cut, and thread count of her kimono was all detailed, as well as a list of words she was not allowed to speak in the clan head's presence.

_'These words must not fall from a woman's lips in his presence.'_

Sakura had declined the meeting as politely as possible with a voided out invoice for the treatment she had extended to his clan members. They hadn't asked for an audience since. Mito was a good enough excuse to accidentally meet up, she guessed.

"You look humble," Sakura told herself as she watched her reflection in the mirror.

Inner Sakura was quiet, but Sakura could still feel her somewhere nearby, listening. There were no words without serious meditation or concentration, but that was fine. Sakura had lived whole years of her life without the second voice being as close as it was.

It was never truly cold in the land of fire, but it was chilly enough for an additional coat to layer over her robes. Sakura exited her house built near the hospital and found the way to the tea house where the party had agreed to meet.

She felt her smile grow when she recognized Kawarama waiting outside the shop. He perked up as well when he saw her, pushing off the side of the building and reaching for her hand.

"Hey, I thought we were going to see each other later tonight for Tobirama's birthday dinner. What are you doing here?" Sakura asked pulling him into a hug. He was nearly as tall as her. Soon he would be taller.

"I wanted to see you. Itama was telling me about the Hyuga and how rude they were with Mito over him. They sound like some real assholes. You mind me being there?"

"You know I don't."

Kawarama leaned back and narrowed his eyes at something he saw in her face. He reached out and touched her cheek. "Have you lost weight recently. You look…less like yourself."

Sakura groaned. "I've been busy, recently. I suppose I've neglected my own health while seeing to others." She pulled away and reached up to pat the side of her head, feeling the hair that was still there.

"Mom, you shouldn't push yourself so much. If they can't work well together then they should just get the can. Fire them if they are more worth than they're worth."

"I would if it wouldn't mean causing such a stir. People already call me out as a power monger as it is. If I instead on monopoly of the hospital they would only claim I'm seeking personal power. It's sticky. I'm dealing with it though."

Kawarama growled low, sounding more like the fox and less like the boy. "You don't get spoiled enough. You're always taking care of others. Have you ever thought of that?"

"I'm a little old to be spoiled like a child," Sakura laughed. She nodded to the tea house. "Let's not keep the others waiting any longer than we have."

Kawarama made a sound of displeasure but hurried after Sakura, tugging on her sleeve until he found her hand and held it in his, squeezing it once.

"Your hands are cold," he hissed at her.

"I just came from outside. It's cold, babe," Sakura chuckled. "Let me warm up a bit."

Kawarama rubbed his hands around hers, blowing on her fingers before she tugged them free. He pouted even when she reached over to kiss his cheek in motherly affection. "You are too good to me. You spoil me enough."

They stopped outside the door and heard the voices inside. Sakura knelt first and then pushed the door on its track enough so that she could bow, enter, kneel again, and then shut the door behind Kawarama. It was as formal as she was going to allow herself to be for the meting.

The table was long and there were places set for everyone. Mito was passing a stick of instance to Itama after she had received it from a couple of Hyuga. Sakura felt a third and fourth chakra just outside the room and surmised it belonged to two branch members.

"You're just in time," Mito said.

She turned her wrist over, holding onto the sleeve of her kimono so that it did not drag. She passed the stick to Sakura who sat beside her at the opposite end of the table.

Sakura turned her wrist and accepted the innocence to inhale. It reminded her of forests where the soil was wet and overturned and filled with nettles.

"I accept this generosity," Sakura murmured. She turned her wrist over and passed the stick along to Kawarama.

"I thank you for this generosity," he murmured, turning his wrist and handing off the instance stick to the Hyuga he had sat down beside. He sounded distant but no one seemed to care.

The Hyuga replaced the stick and lit another one before repeating the ritual. Sakura said nothing the second time, but inhaled deeply enough to feel the heat of a dry forest set on fire from the second stick. The third one came around and she felt more than smelled the spring. The flowers were wild, but so were the grasses and the trees. It reminded her too much of the home she loved.

Wordlessly she passed the last stick on and waited for the hot water to be poured. They would cleanse their pallets for words before any sweet tea was poured.

Mito, the host of the gathering, poured the hot water with skill and grace. Everyone received a cup and everyone tasted the hot water together. When the cups went down Sakura felt the chemistry of the room shift.

She allowed herself a moment to scrutinize the details of the two Hyuga who had come to represent the rest of their clan. One was obviously older than the other, but both reminded her too much of Neji with long brown hair as smooth as silk and pale moon colored eyes. Hinata too. Neji and Hinata, it was easy to think about her old friends when she was looking at their ancestors in an alternate reality. Katsumi Hyuga the clan head and Goro Hyuga were like ghosts to her.

Sakura deferred first, nodding in their direction. "Hyuga sama, it is good to be able to meet with you." She nodded to his son. "Hyuga san, you as well."

"Haruno sama," the younger nodded back.

"Haruno san," the elder addressed.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at that. She was not below him and he should not have addressed her so poorly, but she didn't say anything about it. She simply turned her attention very pointedly onto the son, imply that she would be speaking with him mostly.

"Your Hokage have both been generous in extending a hand to our clan, in spite of our past relations with the Uchiha. We have spent several days inside the walls, visiting and assessing the possibility of transferring the bulk of our clan here," the son began.

"The bulk? You would divide it?"

"The main house and the branch family have different needs."

Sakura forced herself not to stiffen. She remembered Neji. "Both halves of your clan would be welcome inside the village walls. You need not split yourself up for such a reason. We are also equipped with plenty of land should you need it. I'm sure Hashirama sama and Madara sama have said as much already."

"Indeed," Goro, the son, said. He glanced sideways at his father who remained stoney. "It is a most generous offer."

"I would like to think so. I could easily see your clan integrating with the foundation of this village. It's so young and just getting off its feet, but its attracting a lot of powerful people into her fold. I wonder if that means you."

"We wonder that ourselves sometimes," he replied with what he thought was a flair of wit. Sakura had seen better.

"What are your goals for the clan? If you don't mind me asking. What sort of vision do you have?" When the son stiffened Sakura sighed. "Forgive me if I am forward, but I am too necessary to others to tarry here with the dance around words that men are so fond of."

"You are quite forward for having divulged so little yourself," the father spoke.

"I am the established one here. I have divulged enough of myself considering your preexisting knowledge of me and all that I am." Sakura lifted her chin, expression telegraphing how unimpressed she was. "I have an excellent memory when it comes to those I've treated and one of the two guards outside is such an individual. I know the scars in his bones, where he was broken and how he was healed with my own efforts so please don't pretend to be less than what you truly are."

The elder Hyuga shifted, less cowed and more angered than his son appeared. Goro looked between his father and Sakura with weariness. The whole of the room held its breath.

"They claim you are a god," Katsumi Hyuga grunted.

Sakura nodded. "That they do."

"You say you  _are_  a god."

"It depends on the definition, but I hold onto the opinion that there are few others in this world who can do what I do as well as I do it. Maybe that's all gods really are, selfish sinning men and women with too much power for the mortal man's mind to comprehend."

Katsumi Hyuga sneered, not bothering to hide it, and leaned back in his seat with his arms crossed over his chest. "If you think that you're either more of a fool or more of a liar. The Hyuga have prospered as long and well as they have because of our prowess and wisdom. We have shown the proper deities their honor and slain the imposters. Some would call us heretical, others zealots."

"And you? What would you call yourself?" Sakura pressed.

" _Alive_. We have done what was needed to be done when all others were unable or blind to it. We are the god killers, there is no meek way to say it. "

"You sound so friendly," Sakura commented in the flatest tone possible, expression unimpressed. She knew better than to believe in their words or trust them an inch. They sounded too confrontational for her liking.

"If we thought you were a threat we would have dealt with you in an instant."

" _Liar_."

Her word was sharp and flat, making most everyone in the room jump or stiffen. The Hyuga head glared openly.

"I wouldn't make such accusations if I were you," he said.

"One does not deal with gods in an instant. If you thought I was a threat and dealt with me so quickly I would think you would not be as wise as you have lead me to believe."

She thought of the madness that seized her when she first plunged her hands into the acid and ichor to devour Kaguya. She hadn't been thinking. She hadn't been wise. She had been a single, unthinking emotion that came off as a drive to do what she could. She hadn't the energy or emotion for premeditation. She had been a reaction.

When he claimed the Hyuga clan to be wise and knowledgeable he just as much admitted them to be cautious and calculating. True, she didn't doubt that with time and practice their calculations came faster, but they weren't rash or emotional enough to 'deal with a god in an instant.' They were not  _that_  powerful.

Sakura sighed and then broke eye contact, looking elsewhere in the room. The heat of their displeasure followed her but she refused to allow it any reaction. "But I do suppose that's not a terrible thing. You've survived this long with such a large family for a reason and I can't fault you for that. One does what he must to ensure the survival of those under him. I can understand that."

The cold in the room thawed and breathing became easier.

"Ask me if I think you're dangerous," Katsumi Hyuga said, leaning forward.

Sakura breathed out again, looking bored. "Do you think I'm someone you could work with? Of course I'm dangerous. You're dangerous as well. This village is filled with dangerous people. That's how you stay safe."

Katsumi Hyuga relented and Sakura saw it in his posture. "Admittedly, you do seem more in control and docile than the last one. My father killed her. She was a unrelenting terror who demanded too much in our homeland, the Country of Ancestors."

Sakura wasn't shaken by his words, but she felt somewhere deep in her mind a shifting and a trembling. It wasn't Inner Sakura, it was  _Kaguya_ , rousing from a slumber. Sakura felt the presence press closer and she willed it back. For as long and hard she had tried to rouse the goddess herself in times of fear and confusion, she was not allowed to surface now.

' _Later_!' Sakura mentally hissed.

"I think we could work with you, but that is something to discuss at length with the rest of the main house family. I will not make a decision too rashly," he said.

Sakura felt a flutter in her chest from the trill of fear when Kaguya pressed again, echoing something about 'the other one' and 'killed' as if that was something Sakura was supposed to know about. Kaguya wanted to know more about the death of the other Kaguya, her sister in this alternate timeline.

"I wouldn't mind working with you either. You have a long and noble history few can even aspire to contest." She smirked, forcing her body to remain relaxed in spite of the mental strain. "Not many others can call themselves god killers, or descendants of god killers. I'm told this wasn't even that many years ago."

The Hyuga elder nodded. "It was my father in his youth who struck the mortal blow."

Kaguya rattled violently, far too weak to keep Sakura from worrying for her. In spite of the fear she felt towards the goddess, she couldn't help but felt some measure of worry for her sake. She couldn't help it.

"How did you know she was a goddess?" Itama asked. It was just as much a reminder of his presence in the room as an honest question.

Mito nodded along. "Yes, and not a mortal strong enough to surpass others. Good question, my love."

Katsumi looked sideways at the pair and then at the pot of tea that had finally steeped enough. Mito took the cue and began to pour for each of them, as sleek and graceful as a swan.

With their individual teas in front of them the elder spoke up again. "Firstly, she claimed godhood, said she was the mother of all chakra and wanted to reabsorb the gifts she had 'wasted' on her children. It was said she had been sealed away for a century or so, but was immortal and unable to be killed. When her throat was slit she persisted, when her heart was pierced she endured, when her head was cut from her body she survived."

Sakura could feel Kawarama shift beside her.

"Those are not impossible things to survive. I have advanced healing techniques that can regenerate wounds rapidly. Even Hashirama, our Hokage, is famed for his natural healing abilities," Sakura said.

"There is healing and there is the cheating of death. They are not the same."

_Fear and blood._

Sakura didn't dare look at Kawarama, the babe she had ripped back from within the void where death worked his reaping.

"She ravaged the lands for years without aging and it was the duty of our honorable clan to pray once again for guidance from the moon," the elder began again. "They sent a god to do battle with the heretic and she was wounded badly. The god from the moon took something from her and left, leaving her weak and mortal. My father finished her off."

"Prayer. Are you still so devout?" Sakura hummed. She took the tea into her hands, feeling the fading heat of it.

He mirrored her actions. "Maybe some more than others. Time will tell."

* * *

Sakura left with Kawarama and very purposefully made a house call to a new friend with a very pregnant wife. Sasuke Sarutobi was the picture of a nervous first time father as he doted from a distance. Sakura had asked for privacy and Sasuke did the best he could.

"Distract him for me," Sakura whispered to Kawarama.

With the father out of the house, Sakura ran through her usual routine with his wife, informing her of a healthy male son. They had the name picked out and it didn't surprise her at all to recognize it. It was a bit unsettling to know she was going to be helping deliver a man she had always seen as a grandfather.

It made her nostalgic the rest of the afternoon.

The house call went smoothly and they were both out and free on the streets before two hours had passed.

Kawarama saw someone he knew and ran ahead to talk with them, unwilling to leave Sakura completely, but independent enough for a healthy distance. So Sakura found a bench and sat. Sat and though.

'Kaguya, you ow me more than silence. What was that, back there? What's happened to you?'

Nothing.

Sakura felt unusually frustrated. Years ago it had been flawless. There was nothing there to keep them from communicating as simply and easily as two people talking. Sakura suspected there was more at play than just the woman's hesitation. There was something else prohibiting the goddess for speaking freely and rousing herself from the deep places in Sakura's mind.

It was like that for a few more minutes before Sakura finally decided to give up. What would Kakashi sensei have done? What would Sai or Sasuke or Naruto have tried? Oh, Naruto would have hollered until everything worked out like magic, she supposed. Sasuke would force fate and Sai…he'd have some secret from his history to come out in play and help him along. Even Yamato would have had more success than her.

' _But they're all dead and you're the one that ate her_ ," inner reminded her.

Sakura closed her eyes and let her body sag. She still had a few more hours before the party that night and she wanted to be lazy and maybe even a little self destructive. She missed her boys.

"Such a beautiful young woman looking do despondent all on her own, ho ho? Who's the blind rascal that left you here like this?" a older voice chuckled.

She smelled woodsmoke and tree bark before she saw anything. Sakura opened her eyes and saw a older man with a cane and a smile she recognized.

"Excellent genjutsu, Madara, but you're still burning with chakra I know too well." She reached out a hand to wave him over.

He pouted a wrinkled pout but approached the bench all the same. He even shuffled a bit like she expected a senior citizen to do. "You spoil all my fun," he complained.

"No, not  _all_  of your fun, just  _some_  of your fun. I didn't tell you off, did I?" Sakura grinned at his pout. "It's kinda cute. You even have old man wrinkles."

"Of course, I am a master of genjutsu, after all. Only my brother might exceed me in this skill."

"Oh, if only Izuna wasn't so vain. He's a skillful weaver of illusions, but he's a terrible spy. It's much easier to tell who he is because he's always beautiful no matter what he choses to be. It's not fair, really, since he's so pretty in real life."

She remembered the conversation she had with Izuna last night, where he confessed suspecting her and Madara of being involved. The memory made her ears burn but she laughed anyway.

Madara huffed. "He's not that pretty. We're brothers, after all."

"You don't do skin treatments or face masks, do you? Beauty is more than just genetics, you know. It's effort and skill and care. There's a lot that can go into it."

"I suppose. I do a poor job of noticing it." Madara seemed to be contemplating something before he leaned towards her. "Do you know all this from first hand experience?"

"Mostly. When I was younger and unsure of the direction of my career-if I wanted to be a shinobi on the battlefield or a kunoichi in pale robes- I was trained in the basics of both. A lot more work goes into training girls to be distractions than you might think. Eventually I went the other way and dedicated myself to being a shinobi and then a medic."

"You were given the choice?"

"Yes, and I don't know how wise that was since I only made that decision because it would mean I was closer to this boy I had a crush on. I was eight and it was peace times. My priorities were not the most solid," she laughed.

"Truly the heart of a maiden," Madara teased in his old man's voice. "You've not told me much of your past or this boy you were so infatuated with. What became of him?"

And she hadn't. With all the boys she had been purposefully vague about her past as a girl. They didn't need to know the details about her world traveling. She just came from a land very far away, so far away you could walk all your life and still never reach it. She had mentioned lessons and ideals and a handful of memories, but nothing more than that.

When had she last spoke of Sasuke? Mito knew, but there was a reason for that.

Sakura forced herself to shrug and laugh it off. "Who knows? That was so many years ago. I've forgotten so much in my old age. Needless to say, he wasn't a priority at the end of it."

"The end of it?"

Sakura blinked, realizing how that must have sounded. "Before I ate Kaguya. The end of it."

"You ever miss him, or the people from that life?"

Her heart hurt to even think of it. "Of course, but they're gone and I'm not and there's no point in wishing it could be different." She nodded at Kawarama. "I'm living a new life now and I'm never not going to miss my old family, but it does get easier with the passage of time. Wounds scar over."

"I'm glad to hear that. We all think of you as," he hesitated, "our…family. That might sound odd but I can speak for the Uchiha and maybe Hashirama, though I doubt Tobirama and the other boys would speak differently. Just because this isn't the garden and just because we aren't children doesn't mean the bonds aren't still there."

Sakura's heart swelled. "You say the things I need to hear at all the most perfect times," she laughed.

"With age comes wisdom," he chuckled while reaching up to stroke his chin and imaginary whiskers.

He played the role of old man a bit too well and it made her want to laugh again. She longed to laugh. It was wonderful to have friends so near that she could rely on. It was hard to find people she trusted as much as she trusted the boys from her garden. She had watched them all grow up and become the men they were before she knew what years were. How had it all gone so fast, she wondered.

"Have you been well since the party?"

"That wasn't very long ago," she chuckled.

"Yes, but you work brutal hours and we worry. I'm not going to say you look tired, but I think you might look…less….awake than at other times we've seen each other." Madara winced and pulled back a bit, bracing for maybe a harsh word from Sakura, but all he had to flinch from was a pout.

She made sure her glare lacked real meaning. "Why you have to make me feel ugly?"

"I didn't mean to-"

Madara bit back his words when he heard a middle aged couple pass by and make a comment behind their hands about 'gross old men' and 'robbing the cradle.' It made him flush even through his henge and he rounded on her.

"How could they think that? Sakura, you can't keep teasing me like that! I got lectured last time you left me at the bar too."

"You left this old man at a bar? Good call, but what were you doing with a goat there in the first place?"

Both Madara and Sakura turned to see Kawarama standing at Sakura's shoulder eyeing them both critically. His gaze narrowed when it noticed the henge, as if he could see through it. Madara's control had slipped enough for Kawarama to sniff out the seams of his illusion.

"Sakura, who's the creepy old man who can't even show his face?"

Madara scowled and Sakura could feel his chakra even out. It was near impossible to see the seams of his illusion now, but Kawarama had already glimpsed the lie, so there was no use covering it up now.

"Kawarama, leave the elderly alone. Can't you see your mother is busy?"

"You're joking with me, so I know you're not my brother, and you're too ugly to be Itama. Hashirama's genjutsu aren't that good…"

Kawarama let his voice trail off in though, missing the way Madara seemed to glow at the praise. Sakura rolled her eyes. Even as grown men they were still trying to show up one another. The more things change the more they stay the same.

"Madara?" he guessed.

Sakura clapped. "Good job. Your senses have really grown. Did Kurama help any?"

"He might have mentioned being wary of the sharingan and that doesn't leave a lot of options. Who else are you so close with that you'd let them call you names?"

"I wasn't calling Sakura any names."

"You were just insulting her?" Kawarama challenged, arms folded.

Madara sputtered, looking between Sakura and her son, mentally asking her to speak up for him and clear up the misunderstanding. He looked pitiful enough so Sakura waved to Kawarama and smiled her reassurance.

"It's alright, it's just friendly teasing. What did Mi-Mi chan have to say?"

Kawarama shrugged and then slipped his hands into his pockets to hide his twitchy fingers. Sakura didn't miss the nervous tell. "Nothing important," he muttered.

"Do you think he's hiding something from you?" Madara loudly whispered behind his hand into Sakura's ear.

"I think he just might be. They warned me about the teenage years," Sakura mock whispered back. She faked a hurt look and touched her fingers to her lips as if she were truly distressed. It only made Kawarama flush.

"Moooom, don't make it sound weird. You look gross talking to an old man like that, even if it is Madara."

"Why does that bother you?" Madara asked.

With a poof the henge fell away and he was back in his civilian clothes and youthful skin. He was missing the Hokage robe and hat, to no surprise. Unlike Hashirama, he hated wearing the costume. No wonder he liked to escape in henge all the time.

"It's not like I mind a man going out in a simple henge to get out of work. I can respect that well enough considering I see what my eldest brother has to go through," Kawarama began. He watched his mother turn towards Madara's dark hair with new interest.

Madara's hair was longer and left will, trailing over his shoulders without any comb or tie to hold it back. Sakura fingered a curled lock between two fingers and then tugged on another. Madara made a sound of displeasure but she poked him until he turned away from her and gave her his back. Without words, Sakura gathered the bulk of his hair between her fingers and began to separate it into sections, making it ready to plait.

"How is Hashirama at home? He always seems to have the energy for everything. I never hear him complaining about the work but it drives me crazy. I don't have the mind for it like he does," said Madara.

Kawarama watched Sakura work, paying close attention to the relaxed lines of her face and the way she sank into her work without comment. Silently her fingers wove through his hair like white snakes, elegant enough to braid something more complex than the simple three piece braid every boy with longer hair knew how to do. Kawarama thought he wouldn't mind just watching Sakura work without comment, but he answered Madara without diverting his gaze.

"He sleeps enough to get his energy. I think he does so well because he knows you are there. He has always been like that. The moment a brother or friend needs something from him, no matter how tired or hurt or unwell he may be, Hashirama nii suddenly has just enough energy or time to help that person out."

"Just like when we were kids," Madara chuckled.

"He wasn't the only one like that. You put on a brave front for a lot of people too, Madara, you just didn't admit it," Sakura interjected.

With his hair pulled back the tips of his red ears were on full display. "To feel exhausted is natural and human. There's no shame in it."

"No," Sakura agreed.

Her hands continued to weave, picking up speed as strand folded over strand. Her fingers pulled and plaited without issue. Madara's eyes fluttered at points when she tugged or ran her nails along his scalp to catch the stray hairs and trap them in a weave. With his hair as thick as it was the braiding was slow at first.

"Mom, I think you're the worst of all of us though. If anyone isn't human, it's you."

Sakura paused braiding to shoot Kawarama a look, but then picked up the plait. "What do you mean? I thought we just had this talk about how  _not_  human I am."

"The Hyuga talk a scary game, but they're not going to do anything," the Senju boy grunted. "They can't."

"Did they not fall in love?" Madara asked.

"Quite the opposite. I think it was a doomed relationship to start with." Sakura sighed heavily, but moved down the braid. "Sorry, guys."

Madara snorted. "As if it's truly a loss. If bringing the Hyuga clan into the fold comes at the price of ousting you then it's not even a conversation worth having. They're gone."

"Is that the Hokage speaking?" Sakura teased. "You're responsible for a whole village, remember? It's not just you and what you want anymore."

"Don't even make that joke. They want me to turn my back on my family then they should just ask for my pinky finger or ear, because that would be easier to get rid of. As long as I'm Hokage or have power of any measure you're not going to be traded for more power."

Kawarama looked up sharply, mouth hanging open as he glanced between Madara and Sakura, glancing at one and then the other as something new sparked in his eye. He was quick to cover his mouth and mask his expression before either could notice.

"There, it's finished. Here."

Sakura passed off the pinched end of his braid over Madara's shoulder and then reached into the folds of her sleeves for something to tie his hair back with. Madara let her finish tying his hair off before looking up into her face and smiling wide.

"Now I'm even prettier than my brother. I think that's it for my henge today."

Sakura snorted. "Madara is Madara and Izuna is Izuna. Don't compare yourself."

Now it was Madara's turn to pout. "You think my brother is still prettier than me?"

Sakura pinched the end of his nose and then flicked his forehead. "Stupid. Just because a sunset's beautiful doesn't mean a flower can't be beautiful too. You're not the same and you're not worth comparing."

Madara rubbed the spot of his forehead where he had been poked, watching her with an odd expression. "Am I the sunset or the flower?"

It was enough to make her laugh one more time before standing up. "I'll see you around Madara, we have dinner to get to."

She waved her farewell and he flicked two fingers in her direction, a more casual farewell.

"I'll see you around." His grin was just a little lopsided.

Once they were a fair enough distance away Kawarama ran his shoulder into hers. When she looked down at him his eyes were wide and his grin just as bright.

"Soooooooooo?" his voice was teasing.

"What?" Sakura baked. "What's with that face?"

"You and Madara? How long has that been going on?"

Sakura almost gagged at the way Kawarama, of all people, was making gossip out of nothing. Her and Madara? "What are you trying to imply? I've known him as long as I've known you!"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but he's much older and he doesn't call you mom." He thought about it and then shivered and made a disgusted face. "Ew. That would be gross if he did. He's like so old."

"He's only a few years older than you," Sakura huffed. "Don't make something out of nothing. It's just Madara. He wouldn't-"

Like a physical blow the memory of the previous night with a different Uchiha under the stars came back with enough force to make her stutter in her steps. Her cheeks flushed when she remembered the confession, but the blush only grew when she started to recognize other signs. Izuna had suspected as much, but Sakura had thought that had been because of the party they had secretly planned together. What if there were other signs, or things Madara had said at home that made Izuna think his brother had feeling s for her?

"Kawarama, don't make me think about this," Sakura whined, reaching up to cover her face with her hands. "It's weird!"

"No, what's weird is how you take care of everyone and no one really takes care of you. You deserve to have a boyfriend or someone to court you. Even if you don't age, they're all adults and-"

"What do you mean 'all adults?' Who else are you talking about?" Sakura hissed, reaching for the front of his shirt.

Kawarama rolled his eyes and then shook his head affectionally. "Mom, you know the whole village knows how Madara's younger brother adores you, right? Izuna has been in love with you since forever."

"He was a kid. It was a crush. It happens." She tried not to think back to the party, the conversation they had and the feelings she wrestled with.

"He's not grown out of it, and who says he needs to? Would it be so bad, to court an Uchiha?"

Sakura groaned and covered the rest of her face with her hands and charged forward, relying on memory to avoid running into anything. Kawarama was quick to stay on her heels.

"What about a Senju then? I've got two brother who aren't engaged."

"Don't even joke about something like that," Sakura said. Her voice was muffled from behind her fingers as she refused to remove her hands. They were close to the main Senju house where Hashirama lived with his brothers and invalid father.

The thought, the very idea, of Tobirama thinking of her positively was still something new for her. It had taken him so long to warm up to. And Hashirama was supposed to have married Mito. Sakura remembered her timeline from another world well enough to remember that bit of history. She didn't know what that would mean for this world, but Hashirama never struck her as…a….suitor.

"This is terrible idea to waste time on. Come on, today is a birthday dinner for Tobi."

"He let you call him that?" Kawarama joked.

"I call all of you whatever I damn well please. Shut up. We're going in," Sakura grumbled.

On top of all her problems with the goddess inside of her, Sakura didn't want to have to worry about her love life of all things.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN:Or did she? Dun dun duuuun!
> 
> When I said it was a slow burn, I meant it. But, OMG, let me tell you, I am living for all these cute little romantic bits between Sakura and the boys. This is why I wrote it all in. I wanted all the cute teasing and flirting and awkward adult Sakura realizing 'OMG these kids like 'like' me and they're not boys anymore!' Because remember how she's only physically 17 and hasn't aged all this time? They're all older than her now (except for maybe Itama and Kawarama but they don't count in the love square.)
> 
> You might get more or less of the four pairings depending on how the flow of the story goes as well as the feedback. I've been hearing a lot of clamoring for Tobi and Mada with Sakura, but I'm wondering if that is because those are just popular ships to begin with, and not because they work the best in this story?
> 
> Next chapter is the birthday party, so prepare for Tobi and Hashi getting some attention from the author, as well as a mischievous Kawarama who might be encouraged to help his flirt deficient brothers-wait, one is flirt deficient? No I say, it is both, HA!
> 
> Thank you for being patient and waiting and letting me know you're still reading! You guys are the best!
> 
> Please review and let me know what you thought please!


	33. Chapter 33

 

 

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The Senju family home was as long as it was large, with plenty of wide open rooms that emptied out into inner courtyards were different flowering trees bloomed. It was traditional in style, but also held elements of ruggedness from where Kawarama and Hashirama let the wood grow on its own in the most natural manner.

"It's fish isn't it?" Sakura asked, smelling the dinner cooking in the kitchens from the entryway.

While it wasn't her favorite smell in the world, she remembered Tobirama mentioning that his favorite dish was fresh fish from the local rivers and resolved herself to not tease him for it for once. Hashirama had thought it a great thing for his brother to enjoy something from their new homeland, but Sakura and Kawarama, and secretly Madara and Izuna too, had all openly judged Tobirama for his bland pallet that couldn't even name a favorite side dish to pair with his fish.

' _You're as bland as this fish. Where is the seasoning_?' Izuna had once demanded at a shared dinner where it was Tobi's turn to provide the food. It had promptly unraveled into a debate about Uchiha tastes being too extreme and why salt was not a spice.

"You're not here for the food, you're here because you're family," Kawarama said, taking his shoes off and leaving them in a neat sort before stepping in. Sakura followed his example, trailing behind him as he walked through the familiar halls.

"That's why I can get away with saying some things others couldn't."

The youngest Senju brother glanced back over his shoulder and smirked at her. "Don't push it, mom."

Sakura couldn't hold back the smirk. "No promises."

Before they could reach the dining room where formal dinners were held, a voice called out to interrupt them. Sakura turned to look back first, but Kawarama just hiked his shoulders and waited for his eldest brother to catch up.

Hashirama smelled like wet soil and earth as he stepped into the hall from a room with all the doors pushed back to the inner courtyard. Sakura could see all the way outside where fresh earth sat black and glossy from its watering. A new transplant sat in the center of the upturned soil.

"You were gardening the old fashioned way," Sakura laughed, covering her mouth as mirth threatened to make her too inappropriate. She just thought it was funny how someone with the ability to grow a forest that earned him the whispered title of 'god of the forests' to do anything without his powerful jutsu. Instead of insta growing a tree, he was transplanting one.

"I like the work, it's relaxing. I've had need of something to put my hands to with my brain as busy as it's been," he laughed, wiping his hands on his hips. "I guess I'll need to wash up before I can join you."

"I take it Tobirama is home then," Sakura said.

"He should be. Mito and Itama arrived a few hours earlier and have been here this whole time, meeting with Senju elders about clan duties. I think it might be best if he take on clan headship after Tobirama. I can leave Tobirama the mantle of Hokage in a few years and just retire to the gardens to prune rose bushes in peace," Hashirama sighed.

"Oi, when did you decide this?" Kawarama squeaked, for lack of better word. His voice took an awful high pitch in the middle of his question and his eyes bugged comically wide.

"You're thinking of stepping down so soon?" Sakura murmured. "It hasn't even been a year."

He smiled and like always, the smile was soft as rose petals for her. "It'll be a year next month when Itama and Mito finally marry. They've saved and waited that extra bit of time to make the anniversary date that much more meaningful to them. Very soon the village will be more self sufficient than ever."

"That's not how villages work," Sakura said, brows furrowing. "They larger anything grows the more oversight usually is needed. Look at the countries and see how they are ruled with an iron fist to meet their population. The village will need you more than ever the more it grows, not less."

Sakura felt a part of her heart throb for the man who felt too much and cared too terribly for the people he was in charge of. When it was just the Senju, that was one thing, but now Hashirama felt responsible for an entire village full of different people and clans. His heart cared for everyone, and Sakura worried it would be too much for him.

In her world's history, Hashirama died from heart failure or old age. Stress put him in the grave, according to Tsunade. He hadn't lived what some considered a full life, and it was a hot topic of debate how someone so feared on the battlefield could die in their bed like that.

Hashirama was an idealist with enough charisma to make the impossible possible. He was softer and kinder with more good humor and childish wonder than even Naruto. Naruto might have been more suited to the political office only because of how hard his head was. Hashirama was soft all the way through and it scared Sakura the more she thought about it.

He must have seen something in her expression because he caught her eye and pouted playfully, just for her. "Most of our oversight is unnecessary and heavy handed. I don't like it," he complained.

"I know," Sakura sighed, walking over to stand by his side. "I'm sorry it's a lot to ask of you. You know you have family you can rely on, right? You don't have to retire just yet."

"You think it would be terrible for me to retire?" Hashirama asked, tone teasing. "I'd have so much more time to play with you."

Sakura made her voice go flat to match her unimpressed look. "You're a bit off your mark if you think I have the time and energy to play all day. You'd be retired by yourself."

"Also, you're barely nineteen. That's way to young to be retired," Kawarama huffed. "Even for us shinobi who have a life expectancy of half that, you're still too young to be complaining this much and talking about quitting. This whole mess is because of you after all, so see it through."

Sakura clicked her tongue at Kawarama. "The village is not a mess."

"It's  _his_  hot mess."

"Ka-wa-ra-ma," Hashirama whined with fake tears in his eyes. "Why are you so mean to your eldest brother? Did I not hold you enough as a child? Is that the reason you're so cold?"

The youngest Senju shared his flat expression with Sakura before turning swiftly on his heel and stalking off ahead of them to enter the dining room with Mito and Itama by himself. Sakura smiled fondly at his retreating back, already knowing well and good that Hashirama needed a little bit of attention and spoiling.

"It's not easy being Hokage. You're in charge of so many people and something like this has never been done before. Other countries are establishing their own villages to copy your plan you know."

Hashirama's shoulders slumped. "I know. It's one of the things they keep hounding me about. I don't want to engage in any confrontational business so soon after our founding, but some of the clan heads are nervous if we don't make a display of power."

"That's a silly thing for a ninja to do. We're more powerful when people don't know what we can do. What does Madara say?"

"He wants to intimidate. Tobirama wants to spy, and I just want to tend to my gardens." Hashirama wasn't much older than a boy, barely a man, but he looked old in ways that didn't have to do with his age. He was old in other ways. It made Sakura's heart hurt again. Hashirama felt like a bird she needed to hold against her chest and carry until it could fly again. It had been a while since they last spoke, but Sakura had always known that the mantle of Hokage hung a little heavier on Hashirama's shoulders.

No. It was equally heavy to both males, Madara was just a bit more rough and blunt with his worries. Hashirama absorbed all his worries. That was the difference between them while both were Hokage. Madara would be fine, and once it became his job too, Tobirama would be just as fine. Hashirama…

"What tree was it?"

Hashirama blinked as if the question was too complicated before realizing wheat she meant. "Let me show you. Come here real quick." He waved her back and led her to the edge of the inner courtyard's porch. If Sakura stood on the edge she was close enough to see the new tree that was really little better than a sapling.

"It's a plumb blossom! That's going to look lovely once it's large enough to flower."

He hummed in agreement. "It's too young to flower this season, and I think it might be a few years before we start seeing significant blooms, but I thought this courtyard needed some color. If the Senju have guest, it is likely they will be taken here at some point."

"Of course you would want to have something to show off to others," Sakura hummed absently. Her eyes drifted to all the other growing things in the ground and then found Hashirama's eyes fixed on her. "Show me all the rest," she quickly said, hoping if he had something to do he would stop watching her like that, like he could see through her to the things she wanted to keep hidden.

He extended his hand and led her across the stepping stones almost covered in moss to the koi pond. From there he pointed out several more projects before leading her past the stone lanterns to the semi detached tea room.

He gazed longingly at the humble little room with the rice screen doors and the tatami mat. "How terrible would it be of me to try and steal you away for a cup of tea while we wait for my younger brother on his birthday?"

"We don't have time. Your brother will be here soon." Sakura pat the arm he had used to support and lead her through the garden with. "We can have tea another day."

"When?"

Something about his voice made her pause.

"Hashirama?"

He deflated and looked away. The long curtain of his hair obscured his face from view. He was also a good head and a half taller than her, so it was impossible to see his face when he looked away from her so purposefully. Still, the tips of his ears peaked through his hair and Sakura saw how red they were.

"It's just…" he began and then struggled to find the next words. "It's only that we've had so many days where we could have, but I feel that whenever we see each other it's with others and it's a group event. I'm busy with the mantle and you have your healing, so we rarely ever get time to just…have tea together. What we do is important, I don't mean that it's not. I just…"

"No, I know what you're trying to say. I understand." Sakura pat his hand again."It's important we take some time for ourselves and not run ragged like we have."

"I know you say that now, and I agree with you, but we are always putting others first. Something is always going to be more important." He turned back to face her and his flushed expression smoothed over enough to manage a look of offense when he saw her pitying him with her eyes. "You're no different. You're worse than I am."

"Still doesn't mean I can't feel sorry for what's on your shoulders now. I am entitled to that much at least."

"I'm not a child you need to worry about anymore."

"Maybe you're not a child, but I'll never stop worrying about you. It's not because of age, it's because you're my family."

His smile wobbled, almost like he wasn't willing to let it show for her. Sakura reached up and poked the middle of his forehead and he huffed when she laughed.

"I got it, hey!" he exclaimed.

"You know you could just sneak out some times, right? That's what Madara does. He makes himself up like an old man and sneaks out to go hit on pretty young girls in bars."

"I don't believe you."

Sakura made her face as wide and open as possible. She bat her eyes playfully, the paragon of innocence for his viewing pleasure. "But it's the truth, honest," she exclaimed with breathy emphasis. It was enough to make him snicker and roll his eyes. "It's true, it's true. Believe me."

"I know he sneaks out, but he's too crafty to do it to find ladies to…woo in places of recreation and leisure."

"Crafty? What does that have to do with anything?" Sakura huffed. Hashirama nodded to the house behind them and turned her around to lead back across the stones.

"He'd know such behavior is more trouble than it is worth."

Sakura snorted, making the elder Senju glance down at her with a quirked brow. "That might be what  _you_  think. How do you know Madara or any of the other Uchiha think the same way? Kawarama warned me about this, how you brothers are terribly traditional in some matters."

"Traditional? What is so bad with that? Tradition is tradition for a reason!" he blustered.

Sakura hummed knowingly. "Compared to the Senju, I suppose the Uchiha would seem a bit more promiscuous. Heaven forbid they exchange a handful of words with another person who just so happens to be a woman. It doesn't need to mean anything more than that."

Hashirama was pink from his cheeks to his ears. "It's not so simple. There are rules of etiquette one must adhere to."

"Did you miss the part where I mentioned it was in a bar? People go to such establishments to get away from those very rules of etiquette you talk about so highly." Sakura shrugged. "Though for Madara it seemed he was more there to get away from the weight of the robes and less for the arms of a pretty girl."

Hashirama swallowed. "Would you begrudge him if that's what he had been there for?"

"That's not really any of my business," Sakura answered easily. She decided it was best to leave out the important detail that the pretty girl Madara had been flirting had been  _her_. Mentioning it now would just ruin the rest of the conversation.

"You don't care who he sees?"

He helped her up the steps onto the porch and led her into the room that connect to the hallway they used to get to the room where Mito and the Senju brothers were waiting.

"Like I said," Sakura sighed. "It's not my business. I'm too busy for gossip."

"I meant it less in terms of gossip and more in terms of…" He coughed and tried again. "Madara is like us, in that you've known him since he was young. Do you not feel some melancholy to see him progressing to the next stage of life right in front of your eyes? It'll be a stage of his life where you can not so easily intrude."

"Oh."

Sakura hadn't thought of it like that. She had not even thought about Madara like that. He still felt like a kid when she talked with him and maybe that was because it was easier to think of him that way. He looked too much like the mad Uchiha who had stabbed her and helped kill her boys at the end of her life in another world. She had gotten over the shivers when she saw him from odd angles, the ones with wicked lighting making a mask of shadows across his features.

She wasn't afraid of Madara the adult and she was just happy with that fact. She hadn't really considered how she felt about Madara beyond that. The fact that he was the age where he should be settling down made her stomach drop a little. In her world's history he had never married but gone mad and done terrible things instead. But  _this_  world wasn't  _that_  world. Here, he might have a chance at a happier ending.

"I think I just want to see him happy," Sakura finally admitted, stoping in front of the door to the room where everyone else waited. "I'm not good at thinking about anything beyond that."

"You don't see him as a man then."

Sakura sigh. "Of course I do, he's not a child anymore."

Hashirama shifted nervous outside the door. "If it were me, would you not feel a little lonely if I were to become someone else's?"

Sakura smiled even though she didn't want to, because it felt like giving up something she didn't want to. She hadn't thought of herself as a precious person, but her boys were  _hers_. She didn't want to give them up with a smile to just anyone. Of course she knew they were adults and they were their own persons to make decisions and build bridges with others. Rationally she knew better, but another part of her didn't want to admit it. Another part of her wanted to covet and keep all her boys close. She didn't want to know why her heart felt differently about Kawarama and Itama having romantic interests.

"I just want you all to be happy," Sakura said. With a final smile she pushed back the door and stepped in.

It hadn't been a surprise, but still somehow the look on Tobirama's face when he entered was one they all reveled in. Maybe it was the decorations or maybe the cheers when the door rolled back, or maybe it was the streamers they detonated and the confetti bombs they threw in front of his face as soon as he came into view.

"That better not have gotten in any of the food," he grumbled.

"Relax, brother," Hashirama cheered. "They're bringing the fish in as soon as you are seated. Come, the head of the table is yours tonight."

Sakura watched on with a soft smile from where she sat beside a frail but pleasant Butsuma Senju. He had recovered more of his vigor with time and therapy, but the years of exposure to such harmful toxins had aged him unfairly, and he looked more like a grandfather than a father to teenage sons.

Sakura cut the fish for Butsuma and helped him when his hands shook, sending healing chakra into what she could. Nerve damage repair was something she needed to study in greater detail she decided.

"Such a sweet girl," Butsuma chuckled, closing his eyes as she helped wipe away some of the food he had spilled onto the table. "You don't need to do that. They come in to clean for us."

And even though she was probably the same heigh when they sat side by side, he reached over to pat her head gently, hands light as feathers for as much strength he had left.

"You don't want to eat while it's still a mess, and it's really no trouble for me. Here, you should have more fish, it's good for you," Sakura said.

When she looked up she caught sight of Tobirama watching her. He nodded without words and Sakura felt the message as much as saw it. 'Thank you for helping my father.' The table was small. Nothing would have been missed if he said anything out loud to her.

"You have such thoughtful sons," Sakura said in soft cheer, fixing another section of fish for Butsuma.

"I do, I do," the Senju father cheered.

He was weathered and wrinkled, but when he smiled he smiled like a child and it wasn't hard to see where Hashirama got it from. It was such a stark contrast to the silver fox who had once tried to woo her with flowers and bad poetry so many years ago.

He chewed his fish thoughtfully and then he stared at her, as if seeing her for the first time. He blinked and then swallowed. "Are you my daughter yet?"

Sakura chuckled at the innocent question she was more than willing to answer, but across her and at the right hand of the head of the table Hashirama doubled over, coughing to the point of tears. Tobirama also choked on his shared a knowing look with her Itama and Kawarama just shook his head before his eyes hit the ceiling in a look Sakura recognized all too well.

Sakura took it all in stride. "I'm a close family friend, Butsuma san. Do you want more fish?"

"Fish, fish, fish," Butsuma whisper chanted shaking his hands in eagerness.

"Tobirama, you chose the main course well. The fish is excellent," Sakura said as she cut a new section of fish for his father.

His voice was flat in reply. "Are you sure you can say that? You've only had two bites."

"I don't need a lot to know such things." Sakura smiled as the chunk of fish came away. It was tender and tore easily with just a little pressure. "Here, Butsuma san."

Tobirama huffed, but reached for his cup to drink. "Don't neglect yourself at my party." It sounded more like an order and less than concern.

Kawarama looked like he wanted to groan. Mito caught his eye across the table and the two of them shared a look Sakura missed.

"So," Mito began. "How are your plans for the academy going, Tobirama? Do you need any more support from the Uzamaki clan?"

"I should hope not. Financially we are more than sufficient thanks to what you have already provided. Current concerns are with the curriculum."

Mito hummed encouragingly. "Yes, finding a curriculum that pleases everyone is a real challenge. If there's one thing I know it's the headache clan politics can be. Everyone wants things their own way. "

"It's not just clans that are an issue, but also the civilians. Too many of them are wary of the program."

Sakura paused. "You've already spoken with some of the merchant and guild families? Alone?"

"Yes. I have explained the plan for our academy starting in the fall at the earliest and next year in the spring at the latest."

This time several people at the table shared looks among themselves. Sakura tried to hide her grimace along with Itama and Kawarama but Mito didn't bother.

"You understand Tobirama san, that you only benefit when you have help from others, right?" Mito huffed. "Someone should have been there to smooth talks over with the merchants. Why didn't you have someone else there to talk?"

"Are you implying I am insufficient on my own?"

"Yes."

Sakura almost choked at Mito's brazenness while Kawarama looked on in equal parts fear and wonder. Beside her, Itama looked as it it was a great effort to hold back his proud smile. The tips of his ears were red too.

Tobirama glared sideways at Hashirama who also seemed unable to keep from grinning. "This is quite the birthday dinner. I feel…. so…. appreciated."

"Then that's good," Butsuma Senju interjected, reaching for a side dish to pull closer to his plate. He glanced up at his son and then used his own chopsticks to pick at the vegetables before adding them to his plate. "You would do well to learn some humility and not suffer from it's teachings. You all have strengths and weaknesses. You won't grow any more unless you know the difference."

Too many emotions flickered in an instant across his features as Tobirama searched for the words to say. Rarely, but not too rarely, Butsuma would appear to wake up and return to his old self, but only for brief periods. It had been a while since the last time.

"I'd be willing to help you speak with the merchant clans if you wanted to try easing some of their worries," Sakura offered when it looked like Tobirama was stuck with the words in his throat.

He blinked and looked away from his father to where she sat beside him and then nodded, straightening his slackened posture. "I would appreciate that."

"That might be wise seeing as how your water closets are the reason so many are here in the first place," Hashirama cheered, completely unaware of how his words came out sounding.

Sakura grinned, but it was a strained thing. "Yes, there is that…." She coughed and tried to regain her composure and forget about how well known she was among the civilian because of indoor plumbing. The toilets would not forget her so soon. "I did not come from a clan so I might understand some of the thoughts and feelings of the non shinobi groups a little better."

He blinked and looked away from his father to where she sat beside him and then nodded, straightening his slackened posture. "I would appreciate that."

"Oh, I had almost forgot you weren't from a clan," Mito exclaimed. "How did you end up becoming so skilled then?"

Sakura shrugged, knowing that the story of Kaguya didn't have a place in the explanation. She was strong on a godly level because of Kaguya's aid, but even before that she could crush mountains with her fists and beat life back into the dying…and that was all because of her and the hard work and training she went through under Tsunade and others.

"I had a mentor who took me on under her wing, and that's where I learned medical arts, but before that all my basic training was done in a mixed group environment with other children. Some were from clans and others were civilian born. After graduation we were promoted to mixed ability teams to grow under a sensei."

"I remember you mentioning this all," Tobirama said. He returned his attention to his fish as Mito asked further probing questions about where Sakura grew up and what sort of people she graduated with. Mito didn't ask about the teammates and Sakura was thankful she didn't have to address it at the table.

Before long the evening became night and the food dwindled with the light. Hashirama brought out sake and the party moved to the porch for late night drinks. Kawarama said he would take his father to bed and pass on drinks. Mito and Itama also confessed needing to leave before the night grew too late. Before they could take off Mito grabbed Kawarama by the arm and hissed something into his ear that made him groan.

"Not tonight," he said before ushering his father off.

Hashirama and Sakura both called their farewells from the porch but Tobirama just poured himself a drink and stared pointedly across the yard at anything but his younger brother and his wife to be. Sakura elbowed him lightly and it was enough to make him raise his head and nod goodbye.

"You know, it doesn't cost you anything to be a little nicer," she sighed.

Tobirama grumbled and downed his first cup. "Is that what you said when she chastised me during my own birthday meal?"

In light of an apology, Sakura poured his next cup and then filled one for his brother before finishing with one for herself. The moon was swelling and nearly full in the sky. More and more of the garden looked lined in silver as the clouds parted. Hashirama made a comment about going off to light the lanterns, but never actually got up. The three of them drank in the near dark, content with what little moonlight they had been given.

"Next week," Sakura promised, "we'll do this again."

"You sure you'll have enough free time for that? Aren't you someone important?" Tobirama teased, uncharacteristically teasing. Sakura saw color on his cheeks and suspected the drink was responsible for his loose lips.

"We're all important somebodies," Hashirama cheered. You're the clan head, I'm one of the Hokage, Sakura is the hospital's chief…it only makes sense we spend some more time together. Who else would we be so comfortable with. Anyone less in social standing would be too intimidated or stiff while our equals…"

"Headaches," Tobirama grunted.

"Mostly," Sakura agreed. "With a few exceptions."

"The Uchiha are headaches," Tobirama said.

Sakura sighed, "Still? It's been years since you were all children. It's such a shame. I think you and Izuna could make a dangerous friendship if you wanted to. Your both have traits the other lacks."

"Maybe that's because I see no merit in flouting about like a peacock."

Sakura snickered. "True, he may be a bit excessive and worry about things that don't matter, but you can't deny his silver tongue has been instrumental in securing some of the best trade deals and business arrangements for this village. He has a skill."

"He's still a peacock."

Sakura gave up and laughed, pouring another drink. "Fine, fine, then if we're going to be like that, you are the chicken, Tobi kun."

Sakura wasn't sure what he blushed for, the nickname or the way she shortened his name so cutely. His face was red, partly thanks to the drinks, and Sakura knew that when he looked at her he could see the same healthy flush of blood in her cheeks from a good couple of drinks.

"Why do you insist on insulting me so? What great wrong have I done to incur such treatment…on my birthday no less."

"You stabbed me in the heart."

"I said I was sorry. You don't need to mock me for the rest of my life for it."

"I'm not mocking you," Sakura laughed, glancing past his shoulder to where Hashirama was barely containing his own snickers. "It'a a compliment. You're-you ever seen a chicken? They always want to fight and they're super aggressive unless they're not bred to be docile and they're hella fast." Sakura poked his cheek playfully. " _Zoom_."

"You're drunk," he grumbled, watching her hand as it came towards his face for another poke but doing nothing else to discourage her teasings.

"Just a little happy, not drunk," Sakura chuckled. "Zoom, zoom." She poked his cheek again.

"I would not let anyone else get away with this, you know that right?"

Sakura slipped onto her elbows and then onto her back, laying down with one hand in the air, still just barely reaching his face. Her finger barely reached his cheek, slipping down instead to the corner of his lips and then his jaw.

"Zoom." Her voice was part dream when she laughed.

"I think someone would benefit from the guest rooms. Kawarama would be most upset to learn we let his mother go like this," Hashirama said as he climbed up to his feet. He padded softly around the pair and knelt next to Sakura. "Ready for bed?"

"Am I?" Sakura hummed, still dreamy and playful. "I haven't had that much to drink though."

"It could be you're just exhausted," Tobirama sighed, glancing upwards towards the stars like they had the answer. "You know you're overworked."

Sakura groaned but pushed away from Hashiram just enough to lean on Tobirama and kiss the side of his face. He went still but didn't pull away.

"Happy birthday Tobirama."

Sakura then reached back and found Hashirama there. He gathered her into his arms easily and she folded into his side. The brothers shared a knowing look over her head before Hashirama turned to take Sakura to a guest room reserved for her, leaving Tobirama to himself to ponder many things.

The white haired Senju glanced back up at the stars again, fingers feeling tingly at the tips until he reached up and traced the trail her finger had made on his cheek only moments earlier. His fingers were too thick and hard, but he could still remembered the sensation of her touch trailing from cheek to the lip to jaw. He sighed and reached to drink from the jug, forgoing his cup.

Hashirama carried Sakura to the back of the house where all their privet rooms were located, side by side by side. One had been left unclaimed in the middle for 'guests' but they never offered it to anyone but Sakura on the rare few times she stayed over. It wasn't exactly 'proper' for an unmarried lady to be under the roof of so many bachelors, but there had been several nights where she had to stay close to keep an eye on their father's health as his doctor…and that was always the story they went with even if it was a lie.

"It's been a while," Sakura sighed into Hashirama's shoulder as he closed the screen door behind them using the end of his heel.

When he chuckled she could feel it under her cheek. "It's been too long, I agree. Last time was because of reverie though. I remember you drinking far more."

"Hey, I had a meeting with the Hyuga this morning, don't blame me for getting started early. How else do you expect me to put up with all their snobbery?"

"Whatever you did, it seems to have worked."

He knelt down beside the covers and moved to hold her in one arm while pulling back the blankets with the other. Sakura curled into him more before he managed to help her into bed and tuck her in. Without the warmth of his body heat, she found herself shivering.

"How would you know anything about that?" Sakura asked. "I only met with them today."

Hashirma's smile matched the twinkle in his eyes. "I only  _look_  like a buffoon. I have to be somewhat competent if I want to do any good as this village's leader." He brushed a stray hair out of her face, dragging the back of his fingers over the high point of her cheek. "I don't trust blindly."

Sakura managed a tired smile. "You're a dark horse, Hashirama."

He seemed to delight at the sounds of his name coming off her lips. "Why, because I have a few secrets? What would that make you, Sa-ku-ra?" He leaned in, shadow spreading over her.

Sakura was too tired to be weary. "Not a buffoon."

"No?"

He reached for her hair again and tugged ever so gently. Sakura felt a bolt of awareness wash through her when she saw it come away on his hand. It wasn't just a couple of hair strands, but a sizable chuck of pink that fell out at the roots. She looked up and his smile was gone, replaced with a hard look in his eyes she didn't recognize.

"What are you implying?" Sakura asked cautiously.

"You smell like rot."

Sakura swallowed and started to sit up. Hashirama moved back to let her, giving her enough space for the moonlight to fall between them.

"What does that mean?"

"Everyone smells like rot, like  _age_. It's something I've ignored after so many years. People who are mortal, who grow and age all eventually die, and all have that smell to them. I have that smell. You were the only one who didn't smell like the others until just recently. Now this confirms my suspicions." He held up the strand of hair. "You're dying."

"No." The words came out fast and hard, but then Sakura saw the hair and felt her expression crumble. "No-no more than anyone else. I've stopped replacing my human cells with hers."

Hashirama's dark eyes wavered with worry. "What does that mean?"

There was a feeling of guilt in her gut that made her hold herself over the covers and look away. "I didn't age because I would replace my aged cells with new ones. I've stopped doing that, starting the normal aging process that everyone else goes through. It's not like I'll die right away. I'm just… mortal now. I'm human."

"Why?"

"Why not? You think I want to live forever, young and alone while all my family dies in their beds if they're  _lucky_?"

He reached for her hand and she felt how she shivered only after he made contact with her skin. "I don't think you want that, but I also know that's not the real reason." His voice was soft enough to make her feel safe, but a guilt in her gut made her lower her eyes. "Sakura, why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't want you to worry."

"I suspected as much, but there's more to this. I don't think this was exactly your choice." He touched her chin and she met his gaze with her own. "Am I wrong?"

_The cave, the cave, the cave…._

Kaguya's voice came loud and clear, louder and clearer than it had in a long time, but after that it went dead.

"I'm becoming her," Sakura admitted. "She would have been able to push me out if I kept using her powers and chakra. I was made out of more of her and less of me before I knew it and…and I'm sick because my body is having a hard time relying on what little remains of my humanity."

There was no light, but Sakura could have sworn she saw something like fire when Hashirama glared. "I thought she was safe. She's hurting you?"

"No, she can't help it, I don't think she can help herself any more than she already has.  _I_  was the one who consumed  _her_ , I was the one who started this and she…she did try and warn me. I don't trust her beyond a shadow of a doubt, but I know she doesn't  _want_  to hurt me. I feel her. She's distant now, but she doesn't want to hurt me at least."

"What does she want?"

_THE CAVE!_

Sakura winced at the ringing in her head and Hashirama caught her before she could double over.

"I don't know," she lied.

She felt herself pulled close to his chest and the warmth was there again. His hand came up to rub her back the way mothers would with their children. It almost startled Sakura how small she was in comparison to the eldest Senju. When did he grow up so much? He wasn't a boy anymore. He was a man she had to look up to, one that could carry her to bed, and one that hugged her when she shivered better than any coat.

"I don't want you dragged into this."

"Don't you dare think that."

Hashirama's voice was almost as hard as his eyes, and it almost frightened Sakura. Hashirama was soft and kind and silly. The man holding her was fierce and strong and large enough to fold her up in his arms. She almost didn't recognize him, but for as stern or harsh he seemed, Sakura could see it was rooted in concern for her and…fear for her safety. He was afraid.

She felt his arms tighten as his fingers kneaded into her back in soothing circles. "Don't think you can keep us out of this. If one of us was in need you wouldn't hesitate so don't you dare think we would do any less. You've stormed the gates of death for my brother. I would do the same if I could in a heartbeat."

"This is because of actions I took many years ago, it's  _my_  burden to shoulder, not yours."

"I want that burden. Anything on your shoulders," she shivered as his fingers traced the shape of her spine, "I want on mine. I won't let you struggle through this on your own, so don't ask it of me. I'm not going to lose you to anything."

Sakura felt so lost, listening to and feeling the touch of a man who used to be a boy she could pick up and tuck under her arm. She felt like she couldn't meet his eyes when he spoke to her in the dim of the bedroom, for fear of what she might find there. She had been so against letting either Hashirama or Madara learning about the cave for selfish reasons, but maybe that had been wrong of her.

"If I figure out what needs to be done, and once I know it is safe, I will ask for your help." Sakura glanced up, forcing herself to meet his eyes. "But not until I know for certain."

The intensity stayed a moment longer in his eyes before his whole form deflated. It was like a flame that had been put under a hood-suddenly the fire was gone with nothing to sustain its flame. He dropped his head onto her shoulder and het his arms go slack to encircle her waist.

"You make me feel like a boy again, I can't possibly stand up against you when you look at me like that," he chuckled into her neck.

"You seemed pretty heated yourself. When did you grow up so much?"

Hashirama turned his face upwards to stare at her from under her jaw. Before she knew what he was doing he pressed his lips to the underside of her throat and then pulled back to brush his lips across her cheek. "I've been a man for a while now. I'm glad you're finally noticing."

Sakura felt the heat of her face and knew she was red all over. The blush showed no mercy as it stoked a fire deep in her belly.

All she could manage was a meek squeak of his name before she pulled all the covers up over her body. She heard him laugh full and deep before wishing her a good sleep, and leaving the way he came.

"I will always come for you when you call on me, but just promise me you won't go anywhere on your own," he called back to her before closing the door behind him. Footsteps fading down the hall clued her in to his departure.

It was a while later when she pushed the blankets away and started up at the door to the hallway. Beyond her door there was another room where a boy wasn't a boy anymore, and she didn't know how she was supposed to feel about that, but she was sure the heat in her belly should have faded long ago.

* * *

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN:I'm just really enjoying Sakura's gradual realization that she's surrounded by beef cakes that want a piece of her.
> 
> I know from feedback that Tobirama is a strong favorite while his elder brother is pretty low on the appreciation list, (thank you for letting me know where you stand/what you think!) but I'm hoping I write Hashirama well enough to present him as an enticing prospect for Sakura. Yeah, he's a sweet teddy bear of a guy, but he's also the first Hokage and I don't completely buy the too-pure-for-this-world vibe they try to sell us when it comes to him. You're a political leader, you got some skeletons in your closet. So yeah, this Hashirama might have some 'dark horse' elements that I'm super exited to explore.
> 
> Thank you for being patient and waiting and letting me know you're still reading! You guys are the best!
> 
> Please review and let me know what you thought please!
> 
> I've also started an high fantasy AU inspired by the witcher that you might be interested on my page called A Confluence of Stars. Check it out if you have the time.


	34. Chapter 34

 

**UTRM**

* * *

Sakura brought Sarutobi Hiruzen's young brother into the world in the late spring. She had been surprised when Sasuke mentioned his wife being present with a child after Hiruzen had been born, but after the complicated delivery where baby and mother both barely survived by the skin of their teeth, Sakura felt like she better understood how history never mentioned either of them. If anyone other than a medic of her caliber had been preforming the C section surgery it would have been a double death.

Without Kaguya there were few things she felt comfortable doing on her own with her limited chakra, but medicine was her wheelhouse. She felt more confident than she had in a long while, managing her chakra with warmth for healing and knowing it was all her. Nothing she did came as a gift from a god. Everything she did was something she earned with her sweat, blood, tears, and cold effort.

"Are they going to be this loud all the time?" a young Hiruzen asked before Sakura could leave. She paused in putting on her shoes and settled back on her heels, smiling softly at the child who was barely five years old.

"No, your mother's better now, you won't hear her screaming like that again. The baby will cry but-"

"Not  _them_ , Tou san. He's crying a lot again and…and bubbling over Okasan."

Sakura almost laughed. "I think that's because he loves her a lot and I can't promise it'll ever stop. Did he cry a lot while waiting outside?"

The young Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded sagely. "A lot."

"Yes, I figured. He loves her that much. Don't worry though, it's perfectly fine and you'll….get used to it."

"I don't want to get used to his bubble talk."

"He spoke like that when you were first born!" Sakura laughed. "I wasn't there for that delivery, but I know he kept it up while you were still a babe on his lap. He doesn't talk like that much to you now, does he?"

He shook his head slowly, watching her like the answer might show up in writing across her face.

"It'll pass, it always does. You'll grow up big and strong and then your poor parents will be sad and lonely they don't have anyone else left they can baby speak to or hold on their hip." Sakura reached out a hand and Hiruzen faithfully approached it, drawing close enough for her to run a hand through his hair. He bent in to the touch like a dog would, happy for the contact. "I know  _I_ do. My little ones are all grown and too big for me to carry around."

"You're strong though, you can still carry them," he reasoned.

Sakura pouted playful for his benefit. " _I_  know that, but they still don't like being picked up and carried around. They say it's  _embarrassing_." She left out the part about how her carrying Kawarama usually happened after a spar-something she had been neglecting since the decline of her health.

"I still like it when my mom carries me, but don't tell her that, because then she'll go overboard with it. I bet your son still likes it too."

Sakura couldn't help the curl of a smile from taking over her lips. "I think that too, but I can't let  _him_  know that. Let's keep it a secret between the two of us, okay?" She held up her pinky and wiggled her eyebrows in encouragement. Sarutobi Hiruzen needed little incentive to twine his finger round hers and seal the secret.

Sakura left and retired to the quiet home left only partially crude from the places she failed to perfect in her handling of the wood release. It was still better than what Kawarama was able to manage at his age, but she had no doubt he would pass her up in size and skill before long. It still left her feeling bittersweet all over, seeing him grow in more ways than one.

"Anyone home?"

Sakura turned back down the hallway and grinned when she saw Hashirama already taking off his sandals. He grinned wide when he saw her come out to greet him. She didn't miss the paper bag dangling from his left arm, or the smell of steamed buns.

"I got treats. Want to share?" he playfully cheered, hoping up the rest of the way to stop in front of her. He bent down to kiss both sides of her face before offering her the bag.

"Let me make some tea for these," Sakura laughed, knowing that his nose tickled her cheek on purpose no matter how innocent he made his expression for her once he pulled away. "You'll be the death of me if I ever decide to go on a diet."

"You know plump is a really underrated look. Healthy women enjoying life is a necessity for a flourishing village. I'm doing my part."

He moved past her into the kitchen to pull down plates for the pair of them while Sakura set up the fire to boil water. When she finished and turned back around the table was set but Hashirama was back in the immediate kitchen, hovering close enough for her to catch the lines of worry around his eyes.

"What's with that look?" she snapped, reaching up and flicking his forehead. "You had better be worrying about Tobirama and Madara covering for you and not about what I think you're worrying about."

"Can you blame me?" he whined.

"Yes!"

Sakura turned her back on him and faced the stove again, knowing it would still be a while before the water was hot enough for her tea. In the reflective survive of a pot she had left out on a counter nearby she could see his face behind her, drawn tight with a worry he wouldn't admit to even though she knew what it was for. He had been dropping in to visit at least every week since his brother's party, checking her hair and skin so casually it was almost unnoticeable. But Sakura noticed.

"I'm not dying just yet," she grumbled, closing her eyes and folding her arms. "You don't need to look at my back like you're worried I'll fall over at a moment's notice. I'm plenty durable all on my own. I'm not even losing my hair anymore."

"That's good," he softly admitted.

The tone made her turn around to face him. The way he watched made her wish she hadn't. Before she could turn back around towards the pot his hand was on her face, cupping her cheek so that his thumb could brush up under the skin below her left eye. She almost turned her head away, but his other hand reached for her wrist and tugged her close. His hand slid off her face and into her hair as he folded her into his arms. She groaned aloud, hoping to defuse the tension somewhat, but Hashirama was unwilling to let her go, despite how awkward they would appear to an outside observer.

"You still smell like rot," Hashirama whispered into her hair.

"Sexy." She rolled her eyes. "That's likely not going to change. I'm just the same as you now-ow!"

"Sorry," he chuckled, pulling away with an embarrassed smile. "I was just checking again."

Sakura rubbed the back of her skull where a few hairs had almost pulled free from his fingers. He had tried to see if they were still falling out in clumps, but her hair loss had stopped for good several weeks back. Her lethargy had improved around the same time as well. It felt like something in her had stabilized, whatever that meant.

"How are you here so often, don't you have a village to run or something?" Sakura grumbled.

"That's the benefit of having leadership split. Madara was pretty sensitive about his escapades to dumpy bars where he can flirt with women under guise of genjutsu being made a public thing."

Sakura glared over her shoulder at Hashirama who made himself the paragon of innocence with his too big eyes and wide, joyful smile. It was amazing how each day he managed to surprise her with something devious about his personality. She knew kids changed as they aged into adults, but in all her history lessons she had heard nothing about the first Hokage's cunning. He was even more of a dark horse than she first suspected.

"I shouldn't have ever told you about that if you were only going to hold it over your friend's head. You're terrible, Hashirama."

The tea kettle screamed for attention the same moment he opened his mouth to laugh. Sakura checked the tea before pouring for the pair of them and then taking a tray with all their goods over to the low table where a mess of floor pillows had been left from the last time she forgot to clean up after house guests. The eldest Senju was the last person to mind about such things as he helped her with the tray and served her even as she insisted she finish her hostly duties.

"I'm not going to apologize for doing what I can to make sure I have time with my precious people. I love my work and my job, but my life is my family, and you're as precious to me as anyone can be, so don't bother trying to make me feel bad."

"You're supposed to get embarrassed about admitting something like that," Sakura grumbled, flushing in the face for the both of them. "You're not twelve anymore."

He had been cradling his tea and streaming down into the green tinted ripples when her words made him break concentration and look up, concerned. "What does being twelve have to do with anything? Of course I'm not a child anymore. One of my younger brothers is married already. I've left youth long behind me now."

The words made her think of the new life she had only just helped deliver. The village was growing, her people living prosperous lives that let the marry and birth multiple babies in relative peace. Even with the rumors and talks of copy cat villages springing up, some with stronger vendettas than others, there was finally peace. The dream they had all shared since childhood was coming true, and they weren't children for it anymore.

Sakura felt the weight of her melancholy sink deep inside her. She wasn't supposed to be upset, but she knew she was. It was a selfish sort of upset she wouldn't ever admit out loud, for fear of making it more real. But she was upset for how life seemed to move on around her. She was aging along with it and she didn't know how to do that. She had been a seventeen year old body for years and years. She didn't know how to be anything else.

When she looked up Hashirama was already watching her from his seat to her right. He didn't speak right away, but straightened and then coughed before beginning with what sounded like secondhand thought.

"So, I spoke with my brother about the academy he is putting together and he told me you worked your magic over on the merchants. Are you willing to share your secrets?"

"The water closet," Sakura grumbled over the rim of her cup. "Don't ask any more. I'm regarded as a god by the shinobi for a whole set of reasons, but then the merchants venerate me as a deity for a different set of reasons." She set the cup down. "Their concerns were simple but not without merit. They don't understand the lifestyle they are signing their children up for the same way clan children do. Plenty of clans are eager to have their children hone their skills alongside their rivals."

"Where kuni sharpens kuni there is much prowess," Hashirama quoted the age old proverb that likely wasn't as old as it was when Sakura first heard it in a supportive tone.

"Exactly. Many of the merchants were concerned their children would be made into battle fodder for another war."

"Something we will do everything in our power to prevent," he interjected.

Sakura nodded again before reaching to pour herself more tea. There was only a little left behind in the kettle when she was done. "Some are not wiling to risk that while others were only too eager to have someone who could manipulate chakra in their family. Those who are unwilling to enroll their children are better off staying away from the academy. Tobirama seemed miffed by their decisions but trust me, in the long run it'll be the right call. It's not worth the fight."

"You don't think it's better to have more trained shinobi in our village?"

Sakura shook her head dismissively. "No, not that. I just know plenty of them will come back for basics at the academy once they see the benefit it affords their neighbors. It's a gradual shift in culture that lasts the longest."

"What about the orphans?"

"Basic entry level training and then the graduation exam is optional."

"Optional."

Sakura shrugged. "Maybe they decide they would rather open up a flower shop. Who knows. Finish your tea, you've hardly touched it and its getting cold," she chastised.

"It's kinda terrible."

Sakura almost choked on hers and had to cough hard to recover in time without spraying the table in tea. From the look on his face, her reaction was exactly what he had been hoping mirth was unmistakable and only served to further her exasperation.

"Hashirama!" She wiped her wrist across her mouth and glared harder, watching his shoulders shake. "You're terrible. Take your terribleness and get out of my house if you want to be like that."

Sakura moved as if to stand but Hashirama, laughing loud and unabashedly, reached across the table for her wrists and pulled her back down. "No, no, don't be like that, I won't do it again. I didn't mean it like that."

"You just wanted to see me upset." Sakura groaned. "You're terrible."

"You said that."

"And you still haven't apologized for teasing me and nearly making me choke on my perfectly _fine_ tea."

She tried to shake his hands off her wrists but they didn't detach, making her frown stretch. When she glanced up to meet his eyes she found them bright with mirth to match the playful grin that made him look too much like the boy he claimed he wasn't. By the feel of his hands around her wrists, wrapping and overlapping, she knew he wasn't.

"Hashirama, what's gotten into you lately?"

His grip on her wrists loosened enough that she could pull away if she wanted to, but his thumbs began to rub small circles into the grooves her veins made. "Haven't you been working yourself a bit too hard? When was the last time you just…laughed?"

"I've been taking it easy, actually. Things have calmed down enough. Don't use that as an excuse to act like an imp." She reached over to flick his nose, pulling one wrist out of his hold.

"Would you believe me if I apologized?"

"Not a bit."

Sakura pulled the other wrist free and stood, turning and heading back into the kitchen with the tea kettle and their tea cups. She left the dumplings behind and heard Hashirama reach for his first one as she turned her back on him. When she came back from in the kitchen his face was inflated enough to make her think he forgot how to chew. Half of the treats were gone too.

There was a knock at the front door and Sakura stiffened, surprised by the sound. She hadn't sensed the chakra of the person, but now that she looked for it, she could tell there was someone there. She didn't have Kaguya's superior senses. She had never been the sensor type even though she did her best with sensory and sensitivity training.

She shook her head, hoping to shake free the surprise before Hashirama could see, but he was already turned towards her so she had to move before he realized what her look was for. "I'll get it."

At the door she recognized that chakra before she could even step down into the front entrance way. She smiled a soft, knowing smile before rolling the front door back and seeing the other half of the Hokage title standing with his arms crossed. The terse expression lessened when he saw her and his arms fell down to his sides.

"Madara, funny to see you here. Didn't the other one leave you with all his work and the threat of blackmail?" she teased. She pushed the door open wider and gestured for him to follow her in as she turned around. "Come on in."

"Yeah, about that…" He let his words trailed off as he eyed the men's sandals left in a neat stack alongside hers. Madara huffed in exasperation before taking off his own and leaving them on the other side of hers. When he turned around to join her in the hallway he took her forearm and tugged her close enough to kiss her cheek in greeting.

"You're looking more like yourself. Are you feeling better?" Madara asked.

Sakura pouted. "You worry too much. Which one of us is the doctor?"

"Who only danced two times at Itame's wedding the whole night?" he countered, failing to keep the whine out of his voice. She hadn't managed more than her jaunt with Hashiramam and Izuna before feeling too tired to do more. Madara was still miffed about missing out.

But before she could say anything they both heard Hashirama mutter a curse and clumsily bumble to his feet in a last minute effort to either hide or escape before they entered the small eating room. Madara was faster though, flicking with a fast step to stop right in front of the eldest Senju, red eyes spinning.

"Madara!" Hashirama squeaked. "You-you're here?"

The Uchiha crossed his arms over his chest and shifted all the weight of his body back so one hip jutted out. "Indeed, which is quite the surprise considering all the work that was left for me. You do understand that this mantle is a joint responsibility, meaning we share all the pleasures and all the burdens of the robe, correct?"

"Of course, I was just popping in for a quick check up with my friend." Hashirama waved his hands in front of his face innocently. "Don't hold that against me."

"I wouldn't." The darkness in his expression and Madara's scowl melted into a softer sort of shirt that the Uchiha had perfected over the years. "I mean, it is only fair that anyone worked so hard in such an important position be afforded the luxury of rest when they need it. I understand."

Hashirama turned suspicious. "You do?"

"Of course, which is why I decided to stop by and treat  _myself_  to Sakura's hospitality." Madara's grin stretched as he leaned in and draped an arm around Hashirama's shoulder and leaned in so their necks were bent enough to put their faces close. "I wouldn't want you to steal a march on me, right, friend?"

Hashirama chuckled nervously. "It wasn't like that," he hissed while waving his hands in front of his face again.

Sakura rolled her eyes before turning back to the kitchen and calling back over her shoulder. "Madara, would you like some tea? I just made some but it's cold and a new batch wouldn't take long at all."

Madara looked up from Hashirama but didn't let the Senju go. His grip on Hashirama's shoulder was iron clad. "Sakura you are a treasure, thank you so much for the offer. I always love your tea."

"Oh, well I'm glad  _someone_  likes it." Sakura pointedly stared at Hashirama and the Senju chuckled in spite of himself. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Enjoy the treats while you're here."

"A treasure!" Madara called after her before she slipped into he kitchen.

And even though she was in a different room, her hearing was still good enough that she could make out each and every word that was whisper shouted between the pair left behind. Hashirama was the one that blew up first.

"A march? Ugh, I did no such thing! Eh-quit that." Sakura thought she heard a grunt and knew from experience that it was likely Madara jabbing his elbow into Hashirama's stomach.

"Don't act coy, it doesn't suit you with me. I know you too well."

"Keep your angles to yourself. I didn't do anything that deserves you getting this upset over. How many times have I covered for you when you go out on your own, old man?"

"I didn't go to Sakura's house."

"Why should that make any difference?" Hashirama grumbled.

"You know why."

"Don't think I haven't figured it out already, that she met with you at the bar and the park. This is no different, I was just more direct."

"That makes it enterally different you utter duck," Madara spat.

Sakura had to try and hold in her sputter as the insult made her want to laugh two rooms over. The kettle on the fire was heating with a new pot that would only take a couple minutes more. She was surprised they weren't trying better to be sneakier in her house, but maybe they didn't care anymore.

Then Madara asked Hashirama about her health and Sakura's ears perked up again, funneled with chakra. Maybe they had assumed she wouldn't use her chakra on such a petty thing as listening in if they thought she was still sick.

"I think she's doing much better. Still not back to how she was, but maybe that's how its going to be from now on. It's hard to see her as mortal after years of just looking up to her like something more," Hashirama admitted.

"That's fine. She's done enough. Kawarama was right, it should be time for someone else to take care of her now. The village is established, our community is growing, trade is thriving, industry is being cultivated right alongside the agriculture of our people and it is projected that in just ten year's time we may be as prosperous as the Daimyo cities."

"We are already more prosperous than the Daimyo of Water, you need to be more specific."

"Wind, Fire, any respectable and established Daimyo. You know the people in Mizu are still all half savage. They may never build up their own cities, that would require some of their people actually be well rounded in their skill sets."

The comment made Hashirama chuckle along with Madara.

"Our dream is here, old friend," added Madara.

Hashirama hesitated before agreeing. "I know, but that doesn't mean we can afford to slacken in our vigilance. There are many who seek to take what we have, many bitter eyes watch us as we grow."

"Then we will stomp them out and blind them wherever they hide. We may not utilize our forces like we did during our roaming years, but that doesn't mean we still can't. It might be time for a show of power if you're still so unsure."

"No," Hashirama was quick to interject. "Nothing needless, we agreed on that."

"It depends on your perspective of 'needless' in this context. Aggressors are just wanting under any old rock if we bothered to tip one over." There was a pause where Sakura imagined Madara saw a look on Hashirama's face. "Ah, no, I won't if that's what you're thinking. I don't want to go back into armor any more than you, but understand I will if that's what I need to do to get what I want."

"And what is it that you want?"

"This village, this peace, this safety. I want it all. I want….I want to be able to live my life, not merely survive for the next dawn. There are things I hope to achieve in my lifetime that I am unwilling to ignore any longer. Your damn brother of all people is making moves now."

Sakura could tell the water was close to a boil but the conversation was too interesting to ignore so she moved the kettle half off the fire to prolong its heating.

"You making something out of nothing. She's one of the few people he can stand and one of the only female friends he has. Just because he sat with her during most of the wedding-"

"Most? He freaking monopolized her. It was his own brother's wedding and he wouldn't leave her side." Madara made a dismissive clicking sound with his lip. "I thought you said he wasn't interested in starting a family."

Hashirama's voice lowered but she was still able to hear most of what he said as he whispered to Madara. "He's  _not_. He doesn't have those…desires, but he still has feelings."

"Feelings for her?"

"Maybe."

"That can always change with time. You don't know if he's a late bloomer or even just dishonest with you. Well, if he can't or won't do anything with them he should get out of the way. I'm not going to hesitate on his behalf and I can scarcely believe you would too. You're here now, after all."

There was a pause before Hashirama responded. "With Tobirama it wouldn't have to be a competition necessarily."

Madara choked on his own breath. "You crazy fucker."

"Don't look at me like that. I know the Uchiha clan used to be matriarchal in nature generations ago. Was it your grandmother or great grandmother that had two sires?"

"Great aunt and it was three, her first husband died before seeing his son born. That's beside the point. Times are different, people wouldn't be nearly as accepting as they were when the world was so wild. We're trying to establish a-why are you looking at me like that?"

"Please, Madara, we're friends. Don't. I know your concerns for Izuna as well as your personal intentions. It was only a matter of time before I connected the dots. Weren't you planning the same thing with your brother?"

" _Hashirama_ ," the single word was uttered like a warning but the eldest Senju didn't heed it any.

"Maybe he's saved himself for her or maybe that's just a story, but to an outsider he's a pretty court face that spends too much time behind screen doors for the benefit of your clan and this village. Marrying him off would only hurt him politically, but if he were to become your wife's paramore…well, that's different. And of course the Uchiha wouldn't mind if it was  _her_  because who doesn't want a god in their clan."

Sakura couldn't feel the floor under her anymore. It was one thing to have suspicions and another thing to have the words from the mouth. It was hard to twist what that said into meaning anything less than what it really was. Yes, her boys had finally grown up and…and she could never go back to how it was before because they were already starting to fracture because of her. Because Izuna had already confessed and Hashirama looked at her like that and…

Her face felt wet but her eyes weren't. She wasn't crying.

Sakura reached up and pulled her hand back red. There was blood on her face, leaking like a scarlet trail from her nose and eyes. She reached for the reflective pot and turned it around to see more blood trailing out of her third eye, the place where it had started. She couldn't feel any of it, not even the heat from the kettle she grabbed as it started to scream over the fire. Her hand slipped into the fire of her stove and not even that made her recoil. She pulled her hand and saw the burn on her skin but couldn't feel it.

Now? Of all times for there to be something wrong with her?

_'That's both here. Both. The cave.'_

Something like sick understanding budded in her heart and blossomed like a deadly flower.

"Kaguya…don't do this…."

The tea kettle was screaming and she was still bleeding as Kaguya pulled herself from the deep places in Sakura, taking over her hands, her feet, her legs, her arms, her neck, her body.

Sakura fought within herself, cursing and screaming even as her lips no longer worked. She screeched angry words about how it was wrong, how Kaguya wasn't in control.

_'You can't do this to me you bitch! I was getting better!'_

But Sakura was the voice on the inside and Kaguya was the one manipulating their body. With her hand burned she flared healing chakra and the cells were born out of nothing to replace the ones murdered by fire. Then she grabbed the kettle and hurled it across the room. It smashed against the far wall followed by the china set she swept off with the length of her arm. There was crashing in the kitchen and as expected, Hashirama and Madara came running.

Sakura saw it all like a movie, as the long hair she had been so proud to take care of, grew longer into pools at her ankles, her skin going pale, paler, and then white. There were horns peaking through her scalp too.

"I'm sorry, Sakura," Kaguya whispered with her stolen lips. "But I am out of time and so are you. They will do this for you."

"Sakura!"

She couldn't tell if it was Madara or Hashirama screaming for her, but Kaguya looked up and Sakura could see through her eyes the twin looks of worry that bordered near mania when they saw her. Hashirama reached her first but Madara wasn't far behind.

The Senju took her by the shoulders as Kaguya fell off her feet and he cradled her against his chest, ignoring the mess around them. Madara knelt in front of her, red eyes spinning.

"Sakura, what happened?" he asked as his eyes were frantic in their searching of her.

Kaguya spoke and each word came out stilted and forced. Each word Sakura fought to hold back, but it did no good. They both heard it.

"The cave. You…both… need to take her to the cave or she won't have much longer."

Then they were in a genjutsu that painted for them the wide landscape that twisted a perfect set of directions for them to follow. It flickered fast but Madara caught it all. Hashirama's hands were on her wrists again, circling nervously.

"What's happened to Sakura?" Hashirama asked, knowing too well that he wasn't speaking with the same person as before. He knew he was addressing Kaguya.

"She wanted to protect you, to keep you out, not…to worry."

Sakura screamed inside of Kaguya, feeling her psyche turn black as inner came to assist. Together they fought like hell to pull back the shell of separation between one mind and the next. She would be able to do it, but would it take minutes, hours, or years to peel back all the mental layers Kaguya put up?

Hashirama caught his breath on a gasp and pulled her tighter.

"That sounds like Sakura," Madara answered. "What do we need to do?"

Kaguya looked up and her own third eye was spinning as more blood cracks along the edges and seeped out, running down her face. "Return this body to the cave. Not much time left."

And then she fell limp and all the effort Sakura put into tearing herself free became useless as her body went dark.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Shit is hitting the fan and Sakura is learning the hard lesson about not ignoring your problems. You can't do that. Ignore them all you like, they will not ignore you, and sometimes they are worse after that. So yeah. Also, I know some people are going to be pissed with me about the romance angle I'm leaning towards . You start to see it develop in this chapter-my grand plan for them. It won't come as a surprise to those of you who know me and know my work.
> 
> Also, I've heard a number of readers asking for TobiSaku and if they can't wait for UTRM they can check out a short oneshot I have up called STAG that's an AU fantasy. 
> 
> Thank you for being patient and waiting and letting me know you're still reading! You guys are the best!
> 
> Please review and let me know what you thought please!


	35. Chapter 35

UTRM

* * *

 

It came down to a critical question, one she could not put to bed one way or the other: Did Kaguya wish Sakura harm, or was there really a honest sense of compassion in the moon goddess? Sakura wanted to trust Kaguya. After years of living next to each other, working together, growing together, suffering together, it was hard not to think of her with some measure of compassion.

But Kaguya was the one who took her family away so long ago, even though Madara Uchiha started that work in another time, another life, another world. When Sakura had been young and mortal, she had nearly died to kill the goddess but lost all her family in the process. They once were terrible enemies?

How long could Kaguya hold a grudge?

Sakura drifted in the darkness and thought more and more. For lack of better illustration, her body was turned off, rendered utterly inaccessible. She assumed that meant she was out cold in someone's arms doing who knows what.

Hashirama and Madara wouldn't be able to do anything right away. They were both Hokage. It wasn't like they could just up and leave their baby of a village behind for a couple of weeks and take on a solicitation from any unrepeatable source. They'd have to get someone to take her to the cave. Both were far too important for anything themselves.

"What will she do at the cave?"

The only other figure that drifted with her, now separated, was Inner. The black colored psyche shook her head and then shrugged. "She could never tell us that. It was beyond her abilities."

"There's not a lot that's beyond her abilities." But Sakura remembered well enough how a forced silence would overtake Kaguya whenever the subject was brought up. "What could possibly be beyond the abilities of a god?"

Inner was silent for a moment before drifting close enough to grab Sakura's elbows. "Don't you know? Only another god."

And then their black world was painted with color and the story Kaguya once told before Naruto and Sasuke sealed her painted itself out in her mind. A seed fell to earth and tree grew from that seed, but all across the worlds were different trees and different seeds that just kept falling. There were always possessed lifeforms who felt to earth and began the curse anew.

Sakura saw Kaguya eat the forbidden fruit and burn from its juices, not unlike how Sakura consumed the goddess herself a lifetime ago. Kaguya burned and became something new.

But that wasn't the end of the cycle.

She was brought down in other worlds, words where she was a man, where she was a girl, where she was a grandfather. Kaguya was a title and it meant destined to consume.

In every world and every variation the Kaguya was felled and what came after was just another start to the same cycle. A seed falling through space and time, taking root, growing, and being consumed.

Sakura felt hot even in her own mind. She didn't have a body, only her thoughts and feelings, but the sensation of aggravated heat spread all through her as the story rolled on in vivid color.

"Inner…"

A Kaguya who was only a young man grabbed the fruit hanging low on a tree and turned it around to face him. The fruit was ugly and had the face of a child. It screamed when he bit into it, but he devoured it down to the last drop of red juice before becoming something new.

Then Sakura saw herself, ripping into the tree where Kaguya had been sealed. She saw herself digging into the acid of a god's body and eating it like something possessed. She had wanted to die and be with her family, with her team, with Naruto and Kakashi and all the others who died without her. She hadn't wanted anything more when she swallowed that godhood.

"A seed."

Sakura turned towards Inner and shook. "No, I'm not."

"Maybe not yet, but that's the path you fell into. The cycle can not be unbroken. Its one of those fate things."

"But I'm nobody. I'm not-I'm not the reincarnation of some great age or warrior. I'm not from a clan even. I'm not-I can't be such a thing! Fate isn't something a person like me has to worry about."

"Yeah, well that was before you dug your hands into a god and bit her heart out. We ripped our way into fate with our teeth so maybe fate had no other choice but to look at you after that."

The heat didn't abate but Sakura ignored it. "What do you think that means for us now? Where is she taking the boys and why them?"

"I don't know," Inner admitted softly. "I only know what you know. My guess is literally as good as yours. Maybe it's so that we can separate fully, maybe she needs the boys to kill her, or kill us. Maybe she's taking this body back to the moon on a path they need to hold open for her. There are many different possibilities, but what I do know is that we're a part of something bigger now. Reincarnation or heir or clan name be damed. We ripped our way into fate with our teeth."

Sakura closed her eyes and sank, content to wrestle with her fears in silence for a little while longer.

* * *

Hashirama called for his brother as Madara did his, but neither of them told Izuna or Tobirama the whole truth, just that it was necessary both leave the village at the same time without the rest of the council noticing. Tobirama would act in Hashirama's place, and Izuna would pretend to be Madara. And even if their disguises were perfect, it didn't mean their closest friends wouldn't notice some change in behavior before too long, so the story of a small cold passing along the upper levels started to circulate.

"What is the reason, brother?" Tobirama asked, knowing that in the next room over Madara would be having the same conversation with Izuna.

"It's not something I think I can tell you about yet. I must go and see this through and pray you trust me." Hashirama looked up from his scroll of sealing, eyes wide. "Please trust me."

"I trust you, I doubt the rest of the world. At least leave me with your geographical location."

"I've pinned it on the map for you if anything should go wrong. I'll send word when I can, but I'm not even sure how long I'll need to stay there." He was almost done with packing away his things.

"What will I tell Sakura when she finds out. I can't trick her."

Hashirama flinched and it was subtle, but not subtle enough for a sensor like Tobirama.

"Does she know?" Tobirama pressed.

"She's been made aware, but she understands. You won't have to worry about it." Hashirama looked up from his scrolls and smiled. "We trust Sakura, don't we?"

Something like danger rolled through Tobirama's gut and it was like being in the forest right before an attack from the shadows on his back. There was no sound, no sight of it, but he had the feeling of danger running like lightning through his whole body, making the hairs on the backs of his arms stand up.

Tobirama crossed the room to slam his hands on top of the scrolls Hashirama was putting away, stopping his brother. It was a rare thing when Tobirama glared at his brother and meant it, but Hashirama brought the sense of danger with him and Tobirama couldn't ignore it.

"What have you done with her?"

Hashirama's easy smile went stiff and then a look of utter still settled across his features, which was as close to glaring as he came with his brothers. Tobirama could burn and simmer with his anger, but Hashirama was a quiet sort of anger.

"I've told you I can't tell you yet. You said you would trust me."

"I trust you to go off and do whatever the hell you need to. I trust you enough to fill in for you without an excuse. I never said anything about Sakura. What did you do with her? I'll not agree to this without her."

"She's not to be disturbed or made aware of this."

"You're defensive now, brother. You weren't before."

"Tobirama, I know how you feel but-"

The door to their room opened suddenly and it was from the side so none of the seals or traps were triggered as Izuna made his war path straight up to Hashirama's desk. The killing aura around him was enough to make even Tobirama edge back. Over the Uchiha's shoulder Hashirama huffed and leveled a look at Madara.

"I thought we agreed to leave that part out of it."

Madara cut his eyes to Tobirama's defensive bent. "It looks like you had no greater luck with your end. It would be faster if we just-"

"I want to see her!" Izuna interjected. "Where is she? Show her to me. I don't believe you when you say she's fine."

Tobirama felt a drop in his gut and fear bloomed in its place. Was Sakura fine? Why wouldn't she be? Why wasn't she a part of this conversation? Where was she, anyway?

"It's not really feasible. We need to leave as soon as possible. We can't-"

"You can't do anything without our help so show us Sakura or your seats sit empty."

It was a threat Tobirama wasn't sure he could follow through with. He loved his village too much to sacrifice it on a bluff, but if it had t do with Sakura…he didn't doubt Izuna would watch a whole world burn so it was better to back his play than try and fight it.

Hashirama saw the shift in Tobirama's stance but returned his eyes to Izuna. He inclined his chin, staring down at the Uchiha who was barely a head shorter. It was a stale moment before he opened his mouth to respond. "She's going with us, don't fight me on that."

A third room, sealed up and hidden in the back, melted out of its genjutsu, surprising no one. Izuna was rarely ever fooled by genjutsu, as he was even better at their weaving than Madara.

Hashirama made the wood behind the false door grow an opening for them to step through and stood off to the side to allow both Izuna and Tobiaram to follow him in. Madara hung back, watching the rest of the room with his red eyes.

There was a tall shelf for scrolls and then two more for books. A couple of trunks were sealed shut and locked tight, hiding relics and treasures. In the corner of the room, sitting on a smaller safe, the woman with three eyes turned to watch their entrance. When her head turned the long curtain of snow white hair slipped off her shoulders, down to the floor. Her horns caught the light, but only barely.

"Sakura?" Izuna called, extending his hand.

Tobirama reached for Izuna and yanked him back, not caring for Izuna's reaction of utter anger. Tobirama already had a kuni half out.

"What did you do with Sakura, woman?" Tobirama hissed.

Izuna held onto his anger and kept silent as the woman on the safe turned her half lidded eyes onto Tobirama's form. Once upon a time they had been green and bright, but now there was heavy fog that made it look like she couldn't see anything.

"Put that away," Hashirama sighed, "she's not dangerous to you."

"She's plenty dangerous, even when she doesn't want to be," Tobirama countered, but stilled when he felt Izuna's blade under his arm, ready to drive sideways through his ribs into his lungs.

"In whatever form she may be, you will do her no harm, Senju. Drop your blade," Izuna warned. 

"That's not Sakura."

Izuna's eyes were simmering with hate. "Drop it."

Tobirama glanced back at the woman, watching her for a reaction, but there was none. She seemed half awake, like someone caught in sleepwalking. She didn't make any moves, even with the appearance of weapons. Slowly, he lowered his arm and and stood up out of his offensive stance. Izuna followed his example and stored away his short blade.

"She's non responsive, so even if you called out to her, Kaguya wouldn't be able to answer. She's barely awake now."

Hashirama stepped further into the room and she seemed to wake up a bit more. He reached for her and she took his hand, holding onto his wrist even when it looked like the rest of her body was going to melt.

"Brother, what is that on your palm?" Tobirama asked, stepping forward.

Oh Hashirama's palm a black sun stood out among the wrinkles of his hand.

"It's a mark that appeared after Madara and I caught her. She collapsed and told us with the last of her energies that she needed to be returned to a cave located not far from Sakura's garden." Hashirama tugged on her wrist and supported the rest of her body when it fell into his arms. "Madara has a matching mark on his other palm. We think it is significant as to why she insisted on it being us."

"Wh-why does it have to be you?" Izuna turned back to look at his brother and then Hashirama. "Couldn't someone else just take her there. She would trust us too."

Hashirama frowned as he supported her head, moving it so it rested on his shoulder. "Maybe it's because we were there and got this mark, maybe it's deeper than that. I just know that she's not going to get any better until we do something and she's unresponsive to literally anything else."

Tobirama frowned. "How do you know it's not a trap? How do you know she hasn't-that she's trustworthy. I trust  _Sakura_ , but sh-Kaguya is a different matter."

"Is there really a choice at this point?" Hashirama snapped. "Will you help us or not?"

"What will she do to Sakura once you give her what she wants? Will Sakura be left? Have you considered that possibility?" Tobirama asked. 

"It's a risk but we have to take it. Sakura is currently beyond our reach and-and I don't believe Kaguya wishes her any harm. You know Sakura was unwell for a while. I think Kaguya tried to support her as long as she could, but reached her limit. Does it sound like Sakura to ask for help?"

Tobirama knew it didn't. Sakura spend her whole life like a water jug, filling up only to be poured out. She exhausted herself so much to help others, but never asked for it herself. Even with her drama at the hospital, any one of them could have gone in and helped balance some of the tension there, but she told them not to worry and took care of it on her own. Tobirama's problems with the academy should have been his to handle, but instead…

"It sounds too much like her," Izuna said first. "How long will it take you to reach the location?"

"A day, if we leave now," Hashirama answered.

Outside it was nearly twilight, the time when the shadows played tricks on the eyes. It was easier to slip out during this time than the cover of darkness, when every ninja on watch strained their ears and senses for something. As long as there was a ghost of light left, the other senses didn't pick up as much.

"You should get going then," Izuna said.

He turned back around and stepped out of the room, but before he could cross the threshold the gejutsu was already in place, so that he emerged as a moody Madara Uchiha copy. Tobirama hadn't even caught him using hand signs, and doubted the Uchiha's need to even use them. As pretty as he made himself, it would be unwise to forget that he was also deadly and lethal in a myriad of other ways. Underestimating him would earn no favors.

"I don't like this," Tobirama muttered but when he followed Izuna out he was a perfect copy of his brother. The only tell was his deep scowl, because even when Hashirama felt like shit he still smiled. It was a trick Toobirama never learned how to master.

"We need to leave soon, before any more time is wasted." He turned to Izuna and bowed. "Thank you."

Izuna's lip curled, but it was on Madara's face so it came off looking like a scowl. "I'm not doing this for you so you don't need to thank me, just-just make sure she's taken care of."

"Of course." And then the two Hokage were gone, the pale girl between them taken as well.

It was an empty feeling knowing that Sakura was gone as opposed to before when Tobirama could believe that she was fine somewhere in the village, maybe at home or in the hospital where she worked. Now that he knew, the certainty made itself a weight in his chest.

"This is going to be difficult," he admitted out loud, knowing that he was already shit at pretending to be Hashirama. His mood showed no signs of improving enough to fake the facial expressions Hashirama was so famous for.

"Pretending to be ugly always is," Izuna sighed. "At least you don't have to try an justify this much untreated hair. Hashirama at least knows how to groom."

Tobirama looked up at Izuna as Madara and thought he had misread the man. It sounded almost like a joke.

"It's only for a couple of days. They won't take much longer than that. Deal with it."

"No, you said-you said a joke?"

Izuna scoffed. "Please, don't think that makes you special. I'm perfectly humorous to everyone when it serves me or I want to be and this whole situation is a nightmare." Izuna was quiet for a moment before turning to face Tobirama. "How did you know it wasn't Sakura? She didn't say anything and I couldn't tell."

"I think it comes partially from being a sensor type, but the feel of each is different. If I had to call it an aura I think it would make more sense since their chakra mixes so often it's hard to separate one half from the other." He closed his eyes to try and imagine what he spoke of. "But Sakura is…I know her. I'm familiar with the feel of her like I am with any of my family. When it comes to Kaguya it's overpowering and humbling. I'd even say it's humiliating if that made sense because I hate how I feel when I sense her presence." When he opened his eyes again Izuna was watching him.

"I didn't know that," Izuna admitted. "I could never tell. I was curious if your skill was one that could be developed or if it was something I would have to deal with lacking for the rest of my life."

"I don't think it's something you'll have to worry about much longer. The two of them…they're not in sync anymore. I couldn't tell much more than that just now, but Sakura felt lost and left behind. I couldn't sense her unless I really concentrated."

"And you think that means what?" Izuna's voice picked up in pitch, in a way Madara's voice never did.

"I don't know. I've never met anyone with a situation like Sakura's or even heard of such a circumstance. Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe they needed to realign their spirits with special meditation in a holy place, maybe they needed to separate enterally, maybe it was time for one of the two sides to fade away forever. I-I wish I knew more."

"I can empathize with that." Izuna crossed the room to sit behind Hashirama's desk, empty of his most valuable scrolls. He turned in the seat to watch out the shaded windows where the twilight sun was almost gone. Streetlights were already lit and people were either closing down or setting up nighttime shops.

Tobirama couldn't remember feeling empathy with Izuna Uchiha ever in his life. Izuna was a flirt and a peacock and sometimes Tobirama thought he was a bit of a forked tongue the way all politicians had to be to get what their people wanted. On top of all that Izuna was probably one of the most attractive bachelors in the whole village and unwaveringly in love with Sakura. It was hard to feel anything knowing that a man who could worm his way into any bedroom only wanted to be with the same woman as-

Tobirama turned his face away from the window and crossed his arms. He hated admitting things to himself, because then they became truth. A truth he had lived his whole life with was that he didn't like intimate touch and would likely never marry because of it. He didn't understand it and didn't want it, and for years that had been fine.

Then the woman he had hated and distrusted started to grow inside his heart and he felt barriers and walls crumble hopelessly the more he spent time with her. He still never got around to trusting Kaguya, but Sakura was different. He could see her struggling for a great power the same way he struggled for power in a war torn world. He understood that and didn't hold it against her.

And in spite of all her might she was still so kind. He almost killed her once when he was a kid and she never thought less of him for it, even now. It wasn't fair. He knew he could never be want she wanted, not when someone as well connected and groomed as Izuna was ready to burn the village down for her. There was no competing with that.

Still, Tobirama let himself wish.

"She never would have asked for help, would she?" Izuna asked, looking away. It might have been something he said out loud to himself, but Tobirama was the only other person in the room and he felt like Izuna's words were meant for him.

"No, I don't think she knows how to."

Izuna turned around in his chair. "I would have done anything for her and she-she would have known that but she didn't say a word. You know I told her I loved her and she never said a word about it either?"

Through the genjutsu Izuna's flush crept through, proving once more how he was a master of illusion. It was just one more thing for Tobirama to be envious of.

"At least you told her. You didn't hesitate and there's nothing else you could have done."

Izuna's look turned hard. "So I tell myself each day I'm reminded of her silence. But let me be as honest as I can be, since we'll be working closely with each other for the next couple of days. Hashirama and Madara are close enough that I doubt even I can pull it off but I can start with saying something like this, I don't think you're closer to her than me just because you could tell. It's not that big a deal, okay."

Tobiramau ruffled at the words flung like an accusation. "And you think you're closer than me?"

"At least I'm trying."

"You're insufferable about it."

"So says you, but what would you know? Aniki said you wouldn't be someone to worry about, but you like her too, as more than just family." Izuna pointed a finger in accusation. "I can see that much even without these eyes of mine."

"That's really not your business, Uchiha."

Izuna raised a single brow at the name. "It might be if we're going to be  _best friends_  for the next few days, so you might as well tell me now if you were planning on pursuing her."

Tobirama snorted. "That's  _all_  you wanted to know."

"Hardly. There's plenty more I want to know, but I'm not going to ask you about your sexual practices or abilities on our first day."

Tobirama felt himself turn red and hoped it didn't show through the genjutsu. He felt a heat in his ribs like anger bottled up too long. He didn't want to be kind and he didn't want to have to pretend to be a friend to someone like Izuna. He wanted to hurt him back.

"That really isn't your business, handout whore. Could you really couple with her after all the screens you've been behind?"

"I've saved myself for her where it's mattered," the Uchiha darkly replied.

"If I were her I wouldn't believe something like that."

"You're not her, and you're nowhere near good enough for her either. I don't care if you-I don't care what you think you feel, you don't get to have a shot with someone you tried to kill and ignored for years, not while-not-ugh, even your brother I could stand more than you, but not you! I can't stand you next to her!"

"Likewise," Tobirama shouted back. "You don't know anything. You probably wouldn't have been able to tell Sakura apart from the god if it wasn't made obvious, you're so full of yourself you can't see anything else."

Tobirama found a real fear. He could tell because of how Izuna went still. There was the stillness before a launch or attack and there was the stillness that had to be unfrozen. Izuna's stillness was more like stone than snake and Tobirama was the reason for it. He had found a way to hurt the Uchiha.

When Izuna spoke his voice was paper thin and sounded too much like a child's. "I would have been able to tell."

"Would you have even known she was sick unless someone told you?"

"I would have known if I saw her."

Tobirama's anger deflated from something roaring to dull embers. He would never like Izuna, but the sound of his voice, so child weak and thin made it a hard thing to attack. It was like fighting an opponent that was already on its last leg.

 _Or maybe that was one of Izuna's tricks._ Did he speak to lords and politicians like that too? Was it a way he let them think they won, only to steal what he wanted out from under their feet later? Tobirama would never know, but he was sure he didn't want to keep burning with his own anger.

"I don't think I'll ever trust you, Uchiha, and trying to get along with you is impossible." Tobirama pat out the wrinkles of Hashirama's robes, trying to find something for his hands to do. "But keep in mind that neither of us has what they want so there is no point in fighting for it here and now."

Izuna looked up. "Is that an admittance?"

Tobirama thought it might be a trick on Izuna's part to get the words out, but maybe Tobirama could play the game as well and win something on his own.

"I like Sakura, yes. I don't wish to start a family or form an exclusive union with her at this time. It's enough that she counts me her close... friend."

"Then…you're happy with the way things are now…between the two of you?"

That wasn't exactly true. "I am." But he wasn't going to admit that he had fears of things changing, of Sakura growing away from him, or of Hashirama or Madara winning her hand and building up a wall around her. He doubted his brother would do such a thing, since they shared a family home and Hashirama was always capable of sharing his love. Madara was a different story.

Izuna looked out the window. "What if…things changed….and she came back but those marks on their hands never faded?"

"Their marks have nothing to do with this. Why bring it up?"

"No, not really, but the fact that they were there and chosen to help her might turn into something more. Hashirama is a naturally very loving guy, and Uchiha ancestors were known to share a wife among many grooms to produce strong families in the matriarchy. Hashirama is practically his brother, like he is mine, but what matters is what Sakura wants. If she came back in love with both of them, they could make it work."

"Which would be  _so much_  worse than her marrying your brother and living under your shared roof." Tobirama waved a hand over his shoulder. "I've also heard about your matriarchal lineage and past practices. I could see your clan forgiving a lot if only Sakura and her offspring were tied to them."

"I'll not lie about it, I'd be happy with such an arrangement if that's what Sakura wanted, but it has to be what she wants, and right now she's closer to your brother than me. I don't have that place in her heart."

"Maybe that is a justified fear, but right now it's secondary to the matter a hand. Until Sakura is well again and until she is returned, we'll both do our duties to protect our village together and sort the shit out later."

Izuna grinned and it looked terrifying on Madara's face, but it had Izuna's character in spite of all that. "I think I can agree to that with you, Senju."


	36. Chapter 36

 

* * *

Izuna delighted in the looks on the clan elder's faces when they walked into the room and saw a stewing Madara. Some were better about it than others, but Izuna's eyes were too keen to miss the smallest of details, and his mind was too sharp to miss their meaning. The elders walked in, cautious of his mood, and kept their reports and grievances short. Madara's expression stayed rotten and grim the rest of the day, breaking only when he was back in the privacy of his solitude.

Towards the end of the day an older woman from the Akamachi clan came back to visit with a jug of honey wine. Madara told her he wouldn't be bribed as she laughed in spite of the cloud his dark aura spread.

"It's not a bribe because I don't want anything. Share a drink with Senju and sort things out between the two of you."

Izuna almost smirked, but he was wearing Madara's face so he schooled his expression into a scowl. "There's nothing to sort. Bothersome woman, do you seek to create conflict where there is none?"

The plump redhead rolled her eyes, unbothered by his language or tone. "It's not a rare thing to see you under a storm cloud, but Hashirama sama is just as dour and I can't help but notice a difference in his work. It's not typical for such a jolly fellow. I think you should both work out what you need to."

"There's nothing to work out!"

Izuna scoffed loudly, while on the inside he delighted endlessly about the drama his act with Tobirama was producing. All of it was drama his 'dear' brother would have to inherit upon his return. It was the least Izuna could do considering how bitter he still was about not getting to go with Sakura and the rest.

A terrible idea bloomed in his brain and he wondered how terrible of a brother he was because as soon as the idea was there he knew he was going to run with it, no matter how much grief it would bring Madara later on. (They were  _brothers_ , it was a cosmic law that they bring each other grief in some measure on a regular basis.)

"Tell the Senju he can take his honey wine and drink it without me if he has a woman to drink it with!" Izuna made an effort to pout with Madara's face but it was hard.

May Akamachi the clan matriarch stilled and turned back around to face Izuna fully. "Uchiha san, you understand you friend is at that stage in his life where he might have to break from you. You should appreciate that. Don't you feel the same?"

Izuna was a  _terrible_  brother.

"Why should I feel like that when it's been just fine until now?" Madara huffed, turning away and glancing out the window in his best impression of Madara when he was pouting about something petty. "We've been everything to one another from war to peace and it's always been that way. Where else might I find my equal? Where else could he do so?"

Any other woman on the council might have taken the gossip and ran to spread it like wildfire, but May Akamachi was as noble and sweet as her clan were known for being. She left the honey wine on the desk and rounded it to kneel in front of him. She took Izuna's hand in hers and pat it fondly, smiling like a mother would smile at her child.

"There, there, you've had a rough go of it, have you? It's a hard thing to watch your best friend move on without you, especially when you have such a strong bond together. Have you communicated this to him?"

"He'd be an idiot not to see it."

She chuckled and he could already tell he would end up liking this woman for her small measures of kindness, but the way she chuckled in understanding helped him favor her that much more. She knew people thought Hashirama was an idiot.

"Maybe, but you still need to communicate. He needs to hear it in your own words. I know Hashirama sama is not in the best of sorts right now."

Izuna grumbled under his breath, knowing she would hear. "He's telling everyone he has a cold."

"He might just need a little time and space. Heaven knows he hasn't had a lot of that recently. He's such an important figure to so many."

"That doesn't mean he can forget the people that helped him along the way. Have I not been there since the beginning? Have I not been his closest companion all this while?"

Izuna scrunched up his face, twisting his expression into something pained. He wondered if he was laying it on a bit thick and worried his acting might come out too stale. Madara wouldn't be so obvious, even if he truly was crushing on Hashirama and not Sakura.

May didn't seem to mind or find anything in his act out of character, but she wasn't Madara's brother and didn't know him nearly as well as Izuna. She smiled up and pat his hand once before standing.

"I'm sure Hashirama sama considers your friendship invaluable, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't talk to him about how you feel right now. It's something that's bothering you, so voice your concerns and see where you stand. Try to see things from his perspective as well."

"You speak like a woman who has counseled others," Izuna admitted.

She laughed and pat his hand affectionately. "Don't think I haven't. I've got two sons married and a third still looking. I know a thing or two about friendships and lovers and family.

"You don't judge but you counsel?"

"Of course." She sounded surprised by his assumption. "Why wouldn't I? What benefits the young better, love or judges?"

He couldn't remember his mother well, not nearly as well as his brother, but talking with the Akamachi woman felt like how it was supposed to feel like getting advice from your mother. He hadn't had that before, so he wasn't sure he was accurate in his sentiments, but it was a bit different from how he saw Sakura so many years ago. Was this how the youngest Senju, Kawarama, saw Sakura? No wonder the kid was so attached.

The way he felt around Sakura was different from the way he felt when May Akamachi told him to talk about his feelings with Hashirama. He felt like he could be a little more whiney and selfish. When he stood in front of Sakura he wanted to be perfect. He couldn't stand the fact that she saw anything less then his best side, his best self, his most highlighted features. He was desperate to win her attentions away from others for himself.

Even as he thought about it had realized how wrong that sounded. He would never be perfect for her and she never asked for that. But that's what he was taught, and that's what he was told. The way to win another person's heart…

_Kagome Hogotomo turned his face to the side and whispered in his ear, moving one hand where he could feel it and the other where he couldn't._

_'I'm taking something of value out of your pocket, do you feel it? No? Because this is how you distract someone. Now it's your turn to try.'_

_'I don't want to distract her I want to-'_

_'This is the first step. You'll need to know how to win her feelings. Practice with everyone else.'_

' _I don't want to_.'

_'Women look at men who are admired. Your brother is admired,' Kagome Hogotomo hissed into his ear. 'Will you be admired or ignored?'_

The further he got from those lessons with the Hogotomo woman the more he saw them for what they really were. Yes, they helped him fashion his silver tongue, but in return every encounter tasted like ash. He didn't want that with Sakura. He didn't want to manipulate her into anything. He didn't think he was manipulating her! But was he?

May saw something on his face and it was a testament to the gossamer thin layering of his genjutsu that his expressions showed through so naturally on the face of his brother. May Akamachi saw something troubling in Madara Uchiha's face and reached up to touch his shoulder. Izuna remembered who he was pretending to be and pushed everything else to the back of his mind. He was working.

"You may be troubled by a great many things my lord, but remember your family isn't only blood and bone. Remember the bonds that connect us and the will of fire you preached of so fiercely. I know you will find your peace whatever you decide to say to Hashirama Sama."

"You are too kind," Izuna sighed. "I am a petulant child."

She laughed, but it wasn't a sound of consideration or mockery. It felt sad. "No, my lord, you never got that chance to be a child. Don't be too hard on yourself."

She stood and bent over to kiss the side of his head, and it wasn't something Madara would have allowed, but Izuna didn't push her away. It was a bit forward and not something Uchiha were known for, but he couldn't find it in himself to admit he hated it. The Akamachi were a very different clan from the Uchiha, but Izuna didn't think that was a bad thing. If anything, the Uchiha could stand to learn a few more things from their friendlier neighbors.

 _He_  could learn a few things from them too.

"Akamachi sama," he called, standing as she neared the door. "Please, would you be willing to speak your words of wisdom once more with someone else, someone close to me? I think he needs your counsel more than I."

* * *

"How much further?" Hashirama asked Madara while pausing to kneel down beside Sakura.

She had one hand braced against the bark of a tree, scratching chunks of it free with her ling nails while her face spasmed with passing pains. Looking worried, Hashirama reached to rub circles into her back as she bent her head over her knee and screwed her eyes shut.

It wasn't really Sakura who was in pain though. Sakura had been asleep and distant since falling in her kitchen two days ago. When she was awake enough to walk and be on her feet, it was the pale haired goddess who controlled the body. Kaguya didn't speak much, if at all, but the closer they drew to the cave the more impossible it was to hide her discomfort. The proximity triggered something awful in her.

"We are very near," Kaguya whispered to Hashirama.

Madara jogged back down from the lip of the nearby ledge. He frowned at the sight of Sakura on the ground, but didn't comment on it. "I think we are close enough to reach it in under an hour. We'll have to trade speed for vigilance."

"I know how to get us there," Kaguya rasped, pushing up on her knees and righting her body. She exhaled and turned her face upwards, but didn't open her eyes. "I remember this place well."

"You're in pain," Hashirama said.

"My body is fighting me."

"You don't mean Sakura's body, do you?" Madara asked, red eyes spinning. "You mean the body that's your original form…"

Kaguya opened Sakura's pale green eyes, paler and more clear than ever. They were almost white. She met Madara's red stare without flinching, something not even Hashirama could do.

"I'm growing like a cancer inside of her. Yes, my body, the cells that stemmed from me. They seek to take over and know too well what we are approaching. I will not be able to sleep or slip under until this is finished."

Hashirama stepped forward. "Until what exactly is finished? You still haven't made your intentions clear to us."

"I told you Sakura would not be harmed."

Madara touched Hashirama's shoulder, easing his friend back. "You also told us it was the only way to save her, and that's why we're here. Don't think we are unwilling, Kami sama, but we still want to know what will happen. Our desire to save Sakura hasn't changed."

Kaguya looked down at her hands, staring at them as she spoke. "Sakura and I may no longer dwell together. We are…incompatible. That is the nature of all gods. No god can be saved through love alone. We are worshiped in blood and fear, nothing less. I told her that."

"You're going to separate from Sakura. Then what?" Madara pressed.

"Then what?" Kaguya sneered. "You think there is anything to come after? What else is there? You return with my Sakura, you live your lives. You make what you will of them."

"No," Hashirama softly interjected. "He means, what will happen to you and Sakura?"

"Sakura will not be harmed. I wouldn't let that happen, I told you."

"And then yourself?" Hashirama whispered.

Kaguya shut her eyes again and turned away from the two of them. "We are close, but we are not there yet. We should press on. Come now."

Madara and Hashirama exchanged a look behind her shoulders but nodded and turned to follow where she led. It took less than thirty minutes before she found the entrance for them, an opening in the earth Madara thought he might have recognized from his boy hood travels. A long time ago he had played near the cave's site, but never trespassed further.

"This should be a cursed place," he murmured out loud.

"I should hope so. We can't have just anyone coming down and learning all our secrets," Kaguya hummed, flaring chakra to unravel the navel of a complicated genjutsu. It fell apart like an untethered kite. Suddenly, even Madara could see the truth of the cave's interior and where it led.

"I've not seen a genjutsu of this sort before. Sakura couldn't…"

"No," Kaguya interjected. "I did not show her how."

"She's smart, I'm sure she would have figured it out on her own if she set her mind to it," Hashirama grumbled.

"I don't mean to disparage your love," Kaguya laughed. "She's terribly competent in many ways, but everyone has a their weaknesses. Isn't that the whole point of this will of fire, of this ninja community? You're banding together and making a new family that transcends tradition."

"In a…roundabout way….I suppose you could say that," Madara answered.

Kaguya walked ahead of them, unraveling the genjutsu bit by bit as she moved through it. Behind her the threads of her illusion found their odd ends and reattached the image meant for the rest of the world. "She's been like a god to you both for a long time, but she's still just a girl. That'll be more true after today. You'll be good to her."

"Of course," Madara snapped first, sounding annoyed at the possibility of doubt. "Why wouldn't we be? She's still Sakura."

"Right?" Hashirama echoed, slowing down so that he walked parallel with Madara. The Uchiha glared sideways at the hesitation in Hashirama's tone.

"Sakura will be without my aids. She won't be able to enact god level jutsu. That may not matter to either to you, but be sensitive about how that might matter to her. She'll see the pair of you in a new light as well. Her oldest memories of you plus Tobirama will come to the surface."

"Not Izuna?" Madara asked.

The approached a dip in the passageway that forked and Kaguya turned left. Fungi glowed in the cracks along the walls and ceiling, but it was barely enough to see by. Each of them had to rely more on their other senses to make it through without stumbling.

In the dim, Madara could barely see how Kaguya shook Sakura's head in answer to his question. "No, she never met your brother before coming to this world. In that timeline Izuna died as a young boy, as did Itama and Kawarama. It was one of the reasons why she was so desperate to save the youngest Senju."

Hashirama stopped where he stood. "Wait? Timeline?"

Madara took a few more steps and then stopped as well, forcing Kaguya to pause and turn back around. Her face was void of expression.

"What do you mean when you say she came to our world? Clarify," Madara demanded. "Do you mean like from a summon's realm or from a different country across the Demon's Sea?"

"The former," Kaguya answered, lifting a finger. "In the world I came from, Sakura lived in a village much like yours but much older with several preceding Hokage before her master. She-" Kaguya gasped and staggered back, clutching her head.

Madara and Hashirama both reached for her, but Kaguya bat them away and gasped for breath, sucking in air and screwing her eyes shut tight. A moment later she straightened and rubbed the front of her face. In the dim light it was hard to be sure, but it looked like she had grown paler.

"Sakura didn't tell us much about her past before coming to the Gardens," Hashirama said in a voice barely louder than a whisper. "I don't think she would want you saying anything else if it's her story to tell."

"It's not," Kaguya groused. "It's mine. She can resist and make it painful, but in order for our separation to be complete, you both will have to see and know some things to help with the ritual. A part of that is how we came to be."

"She lost a lot of precious people," Madara interjected. "I don't need to know more than that. If she wanted to she would have shared more, but that's her past, not her future. It doesn't matter."

Kaguya looked up, her eyes paler than ever before turning sharply and dashing down the hall the rest of the way. Madara and Hashirama both exclaimed in surprise before giving chase after her. The hall didn't last much longer and soon they were stumbling into a new room filled with ruins and painted walls. Kaguya blew and fire flew from her lips to light the troths of oil that circled the entire room. Vents high in the ceiling filtered in free air and carried out the old. Far, far up Hashirama could see the stars through the cracks.

There was a small pool near the front of the room Kaguya stopped beside. It was the same pool the brothers approached carefully, hesitating once they were at the edge of it. Kaguya lifted the hem of her yukata and stepped into the water, matching with her reflection from the ankles down. Sakura's reflection rippled and then detached, growing younger and brighter in color. Her hair turned short and her face bruised around her cuts as she screamed something to someone far off. The reflection of Sakura in the water turned and then waved to a pair of boys standing outside of the water's limits.

"What is this?" Hashirama asked.

"You already know," Kaguya answered.

Madara held his breath as she summoned a giant slug and healed an entire army before dashing off and crushing the bodies of her enemies. Hashirama gasped at the sight, having never seen her superior strength used in such a way.

"Is that me?" Hashirama asked.

Madara had to do a double take, because in the reflection there was a warped version of Hashirama with inverted black and brown eyes, laughing and complementing the young Sakura for having the strength of his granddaughter?

"What is the meaning of this?" Madara demanded. "They met before?"

"Briefly," Kaguya hummed, pointing to where Sakura passed Tobirama in the memory. There wasn't much contact at all, and most of what was shown was of her fights with men made enterally out of white.

"Who is her enemy? What battle is this?" Madara asked.

He caught his breath when Sakura drew up alongside two other young men. One of them was an Uchiha who looked too much like Izuna. Madara leaned in, watching her lips move soundlessly in the water. He couldn't be sure, but he thought she called him Sasuke-kun. She watched him in a way that made his stomach twist. The other male, the blond one, was strong but also sensitive to where Sakura cast her eyes. Madara didn't doubt the blond had a soft spot in his heart for Sakura.

"Her enemy appears,"Kaguya answered, staying still where she stood.

A man with half his face crushed and wrinkled fought with another, but then Madara saw someone new show up on the scene.

"Me?" he gasped in shock.

In the reflection a crazed version of himself, cracked like a china doll and sporting a face over one side of his chest. It was unsettling to look at, but his confusion turned to horror as he watched Sakura run for him. The crazed Madara raised his weapon and even though he cried out for the reflection to stop, he had to watch a version of himself run her through.

"No!" he cried. Hashirama had to hold him back from the pool's edge. "Stop it. It never happened. I would have never done such a thing!" Madara protested.

Kaguya closed her eyes as the reflections played on."No. Not you. A different version of yourself would though."

"No! This is a lie, take it away. Sakura would-I wouldn't have done this. Sakura never said anything or acted any differently around me." Madara looked back over at Hashirama for confirmation and Hashirama nodded in agreement.

But then Madara remembered all the things he forgot-the times Sakura would flinch or look away form him until after he opened his mouth. It had happened after he grew up, when they rescued her from the sealing jar. When he looked like the version of himself in the reflection.

But she hadn't avoided him, and she never used out of a conversation with him. She had never been nervous with him. And if that vision had been true, wouldn't she have avoided him from the very beginning?

"What happened in this world?" Hashirama asked, stepping forward. He touched Madara's shoulder and encouraged his friend to step back and let the scene play out.

Kaguya glanced up at Madara and then back down at the images. "All your villainy paled in comparison to mine."

The trio watched as Sakura fought alongside her teammates and failed. The other two boys barely survived until the end, even when their teacher died protecting Sakura. She screamed for him desperately, even thought the water rippled with no sound. The other two joined together to seal Kaguya away, and almost failed, but Sakura was there, winding her fist back and sending the moon goddess sailing right into the boy's joint seal.

There was chaos as she killed them on her way out, and then a lot of darkness.

Days later, in the same filth and fabric, Sakura climbed the tree that grew around Kaguya, pale and bruised. As Sakura began to dig her hands into the tree's sap seal Kaguya spoke up, narrating the events from memory. "I asked her…'You hope to kill me? If only you could. There must always be a cursed one. That is the price of things. Magic, chakra, power…it isn't free. Don't you know that silly child?' She told me she was taking me with her and then I asked her if she would free me from my curse."

"And then?" Hashirama asked.

"Then there were years enough for her anger to fade after she woke up here and realized she wasn't dead and I wouldn't let het die to be with the rest of her friends and teammates. She hated me for a long time, but eventually she just…came around." Kaguya looked down at her hands and then past them to the last few seconds of the reflection. "I told her about my legacy and she…shared her history with me in turn. We were alone on this new earth for a long time."

"But you were enemies."

"We were both actors caught in the script of an ancient narrative by a capricious author," Kaguya snapped, showing real antagonism for the first time as her pale eyes flashed. She looked so little like Sakura now. "I was driven by a nature that wasn't mine, and guided by the voice of a devil. I was a mother. No mother wants ill for her children. What-what mother would?" Her eyes turned wide and desperate for the pair of them to understand. "I am terrifying and mighty to my enemies, but I  _earn_  my enemies. I will not allow my children to succumb. I will not allow Sakura to fade into a nothingness within me."

The pool turned black and the veins of oil diverted, extinguishing in some areas and then deepening in other. Madara and Hashirama both tensed when the new light showed off the husk of a dead monster in frozen agony, face twisted and gnarled. They turned and saw along the walls of the rooms what looked like lithographs of different animals and creatures. Hashirama saw one and stopped spinning.

"Kawarama?"

The nine tailed fox was painted larger than life with a swirling mass of tails behind his crouching form, teeth bared, claws extended. There was a crack through his picture, but the drawing was immaculate.

"We do not need him here. I do not need any of the tailed bests for this. Come."

Kaguya gestured to the pair of them and climbed up out of the pool and made her way to the mouth of the husk. It's mouth was wide and open, turned sideways on the floor so one might walk in between two rows of teeth on either side.

She hesitated at the edge of the jaw and then turned around to face the pair. "You have your marks, correct?"

Hashirama and Madara glanced down at their hands where a moon for Madara and a sun for Hashirama marred their palms. It was a mark she gave them.

"You need to cycle your chakra through it and use it to filter all the energy in your body. Then you will need to push me out of Sakura into the throat of this beast. I will be able to finally separate from Sakura, as she can not follow where I go." She caught Hashirama's eye and frowned. "This is the only way for Sakura to reemerge. Her will is strong, but she is no god."

"Very well," Hashirama said.

Beside him Madara lifted his hands as well. Together, like mirrors or brothers, the pair began to cycle their chakra through the mark, faster and then faster. The marks seemed to break down and seep into their chakra, flavoring it with something a bit more cosmic and wild. Hashirama had been bracing for it, but it still it almost made him falter. Madara's control was just as strong, but the strain showed on his face.

Kaguya began to filter her own chakra through Sakura's body, raising it above Sakura's natural, doormat, chakra. It cycled faster and harsher, making the distinction between the two chakras near blinding. After years of intermixing, they were finally coming apart.

Her hands came together and she fixed them into a seal, then another, and then another, flickering with her fingers through another half a dozen seals, twice as long as the typical jutsu. Even Madara had a hard time catching up and watching all the seals.

Kaguya grunted and then looked up, her eyes start white and veined like a Hyuga's. "Now."

Madara and Hashirama pushed with their chakra in their hands, and it crackled violently with Kaguya's when it made contact. Kaguya's face cracked and her body broke apart like the earth after an earthquake. A crack ran up her face and split under her third eye. A chunk broke off and lifted. Underneath, Sakura's green eyes were wide.

"Stop!" Sakura screamed. "You're killing her!"

Madara flinched at the sound of her voice. It was so different from Kaguya's, but he had been listening to the rabbit goddess for days, or long enough to get used to it. He opened his own mouth to measure her, to explain what they were doing, but Hashirama was the one who pushed ahead. Hashirama's chakra spiked, louder and wilder than before, loud enough to drown out her screams. Madara flinched, but shut his eyes and pushed as well, telling himself again and again that what he was doing was for her good-no matter how she screamed.

"Don't stop," Kaguya growled even as her horns grew out, longer and wilder with wide spirals curved like the points of a crown.

"Kaguya," Sakura cried with the same mouth and a different voice. "They're killing you."

She sounded desperate and afraid enough to break Madara's heart. After what he just saw, hurting Sakura was the last thing he wanted to do. It disgusted him to know what he did was necessary. He never wanted to make her cry again.

The cracks over Kaguya's body spread far and deep, she was barely together anymore, but what was left of her looked peaceful. Hashirama screamed something like a war cry and pushed on. Madara followed through and together they broke Kaguya's shell off Sakura. The mouth behind her groaned and al the broken pieces of Kaguya were sucked back into the dark throat of a dormant giant.

"Kaguya!" Sakura sobbed.

There was a loud echo of an explosion and then the white noise rang in their ears. In that moment Kaguya's voice cut through on a whisper one last time. "You were never mean for fear and blood, my child. Be better than a god, the world has no more need of them. I'm sorry for what I took from you. Be happy, Sakura."

And then they all fell apart. Sakura collapsed like a puppet with her strings cut. Madara dropped heavy onto his knees and braced against the floor with his palms while Hashirama went limp.

There was a groaning echo as the husk like statue began to pull back and close its mouth. Deep in the dark of its thought a god was putting herself back together, damed to never die but doomed to sleep forever.

Sakura turned over, tears trailing down her face from her glassy green eyes, still too weak to stand. Hashirama crawled up next and tugged her over to his lap to cradle in his arms. Madara approached her then, still on his hands and knees.

"Sakura?" he asked her, voice soft and fun of fear. "Sakura please, look up. We're here. You're safe."

Hashirama reached down to brush his knuckles under her eyes, smearing her tears. He only seemed sad to see her crying whereas Madara still felt convicted about what they did to Kaguya, a woman Sakura loved.

"We'll keep you safe, no matter what it takes, Sakura," Hashirama added. "We love you so please don't cry."

Sakura reached her own hands up to her face and ground the heels of her palms over her eyes, hiding them from Hashirama and Madara. "I didn't deserve it. I meant to-ugh. Naruto and Sasuke died because of her but I couldn't help it. I'm sorry I-I'm so-sorry…" Sakura moaned and hunched up in Hashirama's arms. Her shoulders shook with silent sobs.

"You loved her. You don't need to apologize for that," Madara whispered in what he hoped was a soothing voice. "She loved you too, enough to die for you."

Sakura's sobs broke into smaller hiccups that Hashirama cooed away while rubbing circles into her back. He meant down and kissed the crown of her head in front of Madara before whispering in her ear.

"It's going to be okay. We're going to take care of you. We're your family and we love you just as well as she did. We're not going to let you be alone," Hashirama said.

Over her shoulder Madara met Hashirama's eyes, and then swallowed before nodding. "Yeah."

The three of them sat together in silence, interrupted only by the occasional hiccup or cry from Sakura as she exhausted herself on tears in Hashirama's arms. Around them, the fires died out and the bioluminescent moss glowed to light, coloring them all in shades of blue and green.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for being patient and waiting and letting me know you're still reading! You guys are the best!


	37. Chapter 37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter where there's only one bed...

She felt empty.

She suspected she would when she woke up and remembered her separation from Kaguya. Still, there was a part of her that felt carved out and raw, worse than any bruise or cut. She could heal bruises and cuts. Heartbreak was a different matter. Sakura felt like she lost a family member and a limb all at once.

She felt empty.

When Sakura looked up Hashirama sat across from her on the other side of the fire, tending to it so that the flames didn't diminish. The night was cold without fire. Madara was somewhere in the trees, keeping watch from the safety of the shadows. If something were to stir, attracted by their light, he would be the first to see it. Sakura couldn't see him in the shadows, but sometimes she caught a flash of ruby eyes between the tree branches, but then it was gone before she knew how to react.

She was slower without Kaguya.

Sakura felt some discomfort and adjusted in her bed roll before pushing it all off to stand and face the trees. Hashirama tensed and watched her move, eyes trained on her like magnets.

"Are you alright?" Hashirama asked, looking ready to stand and follow her around.

"I need to…go," Sakura said, frowning when her face flushed.

"It's dangerous, I'll go with you," he said, already halfway around the fire.

"Not like that," Sakura hissed, hands out. "To the bathroom. I need to pee, you can't go with me!"

Hashirama's faced turned just as red as her own. "Bu-but it's dark and you're still so weak from the ordeal. You shouldn't go far."

"I'm not planning on it," Sakura huffed in exasperation. "But I wanna pee in peace without exposing myself to your viewing pleasure, thank you very much."

Her words might as well have petrified. Hashirama stood in place, still as stone.

The first time they had showed signs of coddling, Sakura had excused it. But after a day of travel they were still sticking to her like metal on magnets and she felt too terrible to humor their unintentional condescending. She was far weaker without Kaguya, but she wasn't a child. She would be fine taking five minutes to herself.

Hashirama stayed in place, stunned by her words and too embarrassed to move, so Sakura picked up her feet and forged a path through the brush until she was far away enough for some privacy. She paused and then stared up into the tree tops. She couldn't sense like she once could now that Kaguya was gone, but she knew enough to know when Madara was close by.

"If you are watching any of this, Uchiha, I'll rip out your eyes myself," Sakura hissed up into the tree branches.

A moment later and the crickets began chirping again and she felt safe enough to take care of her business. Once she was done she didn't head back immediately. She turned back towards camp and took a few steps before stopping along her makeshift path. She huffed to herself and squared her shoulders before marching the rest of the way.

Hashirama was beside the fire and so was Madara. Both stood as she rejoined the clearing. Before either could open their mouth Sakura bowed sharply from her hips, cutting off their words.

"I'm sorry," she said. "You are worried for me and have done so much to keep me safe and help me, but I've been cross and short with you even though you don't deserve it. Forgive me, please."

Hashirama was at her side first, easing her out of a bow and into a hug.

"There is nothing to forgive. You've been hurt. You're still mourning, and we somewhat deserve it. Any lady should feel entitled to their privacy."

Madara nodded along. "Hashirama is a pervert," he agreed.

Sakura barked a laugh while the Senju gasped and smacked at Madara's head. The teasing was familiar.

Madara ducked behind Sakura for safety from Hashirama and hugged her around the waist when it looked like she might be pulled away from him. In frustration, Hashirama lowered his arms and huffed. Only when Sakura reached for his hands did his expression lighten.

"Still, thank you. I owe you that much for putting your lives on hold for me. Both of you left when you have an entire village to run."

"You know you're more important than a few days of political power. Izuna and Tobirama will do fine in our absence," Madara said in dismissal.

Sakura raised a single brow. "It's not like you to admit something like that about Tobirama."

Madara might have flushed, but in the dim firelight it was hard to be sure. "I don't care for him personally, but I'll admit he has his own merits. I'm not blind."

"I'll have to thank them myself when I get back," Sakura said, patting Madara's hands around her waist until he let go.

Hashirama spoke, "Seeing you healthy will be thanks enough. They were worried."

"How much did you tell them before you left?" Sakura asked with a frown. She couldn't remember much of anything after she passed out in her kitchen. Kaguya took over and Sakura had been trapped in her own mind for what felt like eons and mere seconds at the same time. She couldn't remember if Tobirama or Izuna had been in the house after her collapse or if she had been taken to where they were. Kaguya had kept Sakura in the dark for all of it.

"They saw you before we left," Madara answered before Hashirama could. "Kaguya even spoke to them, and I think she was trying to be reassuring."

Sakura felt something twinge in her heart. "What did I look like? Did I say anything to either of them."

"Not really," Hashirama admitted with a great sigh. "You weren't able to speak much, but you started to manifest Kaguya's features, such as her hair and horns. It's not anything for you to be worried about though! Izuna wouldn't have minded what you looked like and Tobirama was just worried about your health."

"When we get back," Madara said, "you can speak to them yourself and dismiss any of their fears personally. I'm sure they'll be eager to monopolize your attention."

"Let them," Hashirama added. When Sakura looked up at his face she saw his smile was soft for her, but also almost sad. "I'm sure they wish they could spend more time with you."

"Of course. But the academy is nearly ready for launch and the hospital needs me to oversee the major-"

"You are more important," Madara cut her off. "You've been running off exhausting yourself and exasperating your condition with Kaguya until there was nothing to exasperate. Would it be too much to ask you to rest? Just take some days off."

"I've been gone too long. I have responsibilities to catch up with."

"Family is an important one," Hashirama said plainly.

Sakura chewed on her bottom lip. "I won't push myself past my limits. I know how important it is to rest." She threw up her hands, palms up. "I got it. I'll make sure I rest even more when we get back."

"Good," Hashirama cheered. "Now, why don't we get back into our rolls for the night-except for you Madara. You and your clones are still on duty."

The Uchiha made a sour face. "Don't sound too cheery about it, dense idiot," Madara grumbled.

A moment later Sakura felt the shiver of his chakra masking itself as he became more shadow than man in the tree tops. She tried to scan for him, but forced herself to not bother when she remembered how impossible it would be for her. She didn't have Kaguya anymore. She had never been a sensor, just sensitive. She had feelings and hunches and some familiarity with his chakra, but when Madara wanted to be invisible, he could be a ghost.

"He'll be sour for a bit, but don't worry about him," Hashirama said while gesturing her to the bedroll she had left behind earlier. "Aren't you tired? Today you looked weary."

Sakura didn't want to admit how she was lagging behind the others during the day. They were nothing but kind to her about it, but she knew better. It wasn't because of her injuries or slow recovery. Hashirama and Madara were the gods of the shinobi world. She had struggled to keep up with Naruto and Sasuke, but here she was again, falling behind and watching their backs.

She pretended to not notice how Hashirama stayed up watching her, across the fire in his own roll. His attention was as thick as his concern. It was enough to swim in.

Sakura pulled the covers around her and closed her eyes. In her heart she resolved to resume training as soon as they were back. She would go back to Tsunade's lessons. She would make herself as fast as she once was, and then faster still. She'd catch up with Madara and Hashirama in time. She'd done it before, and she would do it again.

She almost dreamed of a different pair of backs she never did manage to catch up to.

Almost.

The morning came and she was able to wake when Madara did. Hashirama had taken over the night watch and welcomed both of them to a breakfast that was still warm from the fire. Madara complained about the flavor because Hashirama was notorious for embellishing his meat with spices.

"Where did you even get these flavors? We're traveling."

"Of course I would have them when I'm traveling. I could get them anywhere if we were back home. You take stuff you need when you travel."

"You don't need spices when you travel," Madara grumbled.

Hashirama made a face. "The meat is too bland without it."

"It's meat!"

"Look, the only reason I'm not still a vegetarian is because this stuff tastes amazing when you prepare it correctly. We're not in a rush. I want to enjoy my meal."

Madara glared over the meat he tore off the bone with his teeth. "You just wanted to show off," he grumbled around the food in his mouth.

Hashirama didn't rise to the glaring, but instead rolled his eyes and then offered Sakura some more, ignoring her attempts to brush him off. "At least I  _can_. What was the last thing you cooked? Water?"

Madara didn't reply with words, but loudly bit at another thick chunk of meat, digging his teeth straight down to the bone and pulling with a guttural sound. It didn't help that his hair was still a wolf mess around his face so early in the morning. To Sakura he seemed more animal than man.

"What do you think, Sakura?" Hashirama asked.

"It's good. I was hungry," she said.

Her plate was still mostly full, but she assumed that was only because Hashirama kept giving her more whenever a free spot opened up. It was more of his coddling, but she kept herself from being irritated. He was allowed to coddle.

Once they got back, a huge chunk of her time would go into training and getting stronger. Whatever state she was in currently, wasn't her final form. She had seen it hundreds of time before with fantastic ninja who needed to recover after a debilitating injury. She wasn't as strong as she would like to be, but she would get stronger with time…little by little.

She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. When she glanced up she saw it was because of Madara. He was watching her again. When they talked he seemed normal, but then during quiet times, when they were close enough, she'd feel his gaze only to look up and see his face turned away.

Sakura decided she was full, but so was her plate, so she turned to Madara and lifted it off. The gesture should have been plainly clear, but Madara avoided her eyes and stiffly shook his head.

"I got it," Hashirama said, swooping in to pick up the plate and eat her leftovers. "Let me clean that up."

"You cooked," Sakura protested when Hashirama grabbed the other utensils. She tried to take the plate back, but Hashirama ducked out of her reach with a coy smile.

"I'll be right back," he called back cheerfully, before heading off to wash up their plates in the nearby brook.

He wasn't yet out of sight before Sakura turned towards Madara and reached for his wrist, grabbing him before he could run off. He startled at the contact and face her with a frown.

"What?"

"You're nervous around me. Why?" she demanded.

Sakura didn't waste time. She didn't know how long Hashirama would be gone and she wanted to seize her first chance to talk with Madara privately before they got back. When he was in front of Hashirama he was better about hiding it, but there was something off about Madara.

He avoided her eyes. "You're off it. I'm fine."

"You can't lie to me. I know you better than that. What is it?" Sakura pressed. "What changed?"

"Nothing. It's not like that. I'm fine. You're fine. Che," he tisked, trying to shake her hand off.

Sakura held firm, using a bit of her chakra to keep her fingers around his wrist. It was enough to make him remember how strong she could be while also assuring him that all her skills weren't now gone. She was still a monster of strength when she wanted to be.

"What is it?" There was fear in her heart, blooming brighter with every passing second. "What did I do?"

"Nothing!" Madara snapped, finally turning to face her.

Something in his expression made her hold go slack and he was able to break away. But he only climbed to his feet and backed away before pausing, still within the boundaries of their camp. He paused on the boundary and glanced back over his shoulder before his hands went into his hair, ruffling it further. Sakura watched as he rubbed at his face and paced back and then forth.

"It's nothing," he insisted once more.

"You're a better liar with everyone else, Madara," Sakura said.

"I'm sorry you feel that way."

Sakura opened her mouth to say something more, but then she heard Hashirama. Madara stiffened at the same moment and Sakura was grateful that she wasn't the only one with senses that could only barely register Hashirama's approach.

Hashirama came back, still smiling, and began to pack up without glancing in Madara's direction.

"Come on you two, let's get this place cleaned up so we can get a move on. If you don't mind the detour, we can stop by a little merchant outpost that's not far from here. Maybe there could be some treats worth snacking on during he journey home," said Hashirama.

"We just ate, how are you talking about food so soon?" Madara asked with an undertone of disgust.

Hashirama just laughed.

Sakura didn't say anything more but began to break down her bed roll into its smallest size before sealing it away in one of the spare sealing scrolls. The great thing about being a Senju was they always could be relied upon to have an overabundance of sealing scrolls on their possession. Sakura had assumed that to be a trait acquired through the Uzamaki, but Mito had told her it was actually a shared interest. The Sneju were just more secretive about the sealing skills.

She finished with her area and stood back up to find both males ready to depart. Madara caught her eye and then looked away quickly. He became a flicker and then nothing. Sakura heard him in the trees overhead, but when she looked up to see where he was, he had already moved on, disturbing the foliage above their heads.

"Eager beaver, isn't he?" Hashirama chuckled. When Sakura glanced back she noticed the hand extended her way. Hashirama's smile softened, looking almost hesitant. "Shall we?"

Sakura took his hand, but tugged him back when he tensed to spring up into the trees after Madara.

"He's nervous around me. Did you know?" she asked in a whisper.

Hashirama's smile turned sadder. "Give him time to forgive himself." He tugged her closer and Sakura was forced to right herself as Hashirama launched them onto the first tree branch. His momentum helped her fall into a new rhythm through the treetops just in time for his words to click.

Madara had nothing to apologize for in this world.

But in another world…?

The question burned in her chest ad helped dull her to the pain of her legs stretching with chakra for the first time in a long time. She hadn't run so hard since before Kaguya, but she was beginning to remember the weight of her own body, and how every leap and jump cost her energy she was in desperate lack of.

The confusion in her head was a good distraction.

The were a little over a day away from the village, and with Hashirama's stop at the detour point to buy better food than what they had caught, they ended up needing to spend the night outside of the village while still in the boundary zone for the Land of Fire.

"Because of you we're so far off schedule," Madara accused, glaring sideways at Hashirama. "This wasn't worth your food obsession."

"Don't be like that, I said I was sorry!" Hashirama whined as the sun began to sink behind them. It painted the sky a stunning shade of purple red, like the color that oozed out of a blood orange. Sakura was caught watching the clouds turn different shades of red while Hashirama went on in the background. "I said I'd make up for it, didn't I? So here we are, an Inn, my treat!"

"This place looks barely big enough to be a shack," Madara hissed back.

"It's just like that from the front. All these shops seem like that until you're inside," Hashirama insisted.

"We've been gone too long."

Madara's words caused Hashirama to pout. "Don't lie. You can't say you're not enjoying the time off."

Madara's glare was cutting. "Some of us know what the word  _responsible_  means."

Hashirama remained unfazed. Instead, he turned to Sakura and reached for hand, startling her out of the way she watched the sky. "Come on, you an I can get a room then, Sakura, and leave the brooding mother hen to himself."

Madara's eyes flashed red but Hashirama was already pulling Sakura inside the inn, up to the front desk. Hand in hand they looked almost like a couple, even though they were both obviously dressed for travel. Sakura's yukata didn't come down long enough to hide the fact that she wore leggings under it all.

A woman behind the desk looked up from a log book and pushed her cup of tee behind a potted plat to hide it from view before coughing. She inclined her head but didn't speak first, leaving that to Hashirama.

"A room for two please!" Hashirama chirped cheerfully. "My wife and I need a place to spend the night."

"You-" Madara had grabbed Hashirama's shoulder but couldn't turn him around.

"Oh, and I suppose I should request a cot or bedroll for our bodyguard too. You don't have rooms for three, do you? Or maybe two separate rooms."

The woman behind the desk blinked once before looking Madara over, wild eyed and with a head full of wild hair before believing the bodyguard story. "We could arrange a cot, but at this moment, we don't have adjoining rooms available. One of our largest rooms is free, however, if you don't wish to be separated from your protection detail. The cot and privacy screen will be an extra charge."

"Excellent," Hashirama agreed, laying down the heavy chunks of money that would more than pay for their stay. "While you are at it, please send up any extra bedding. I have a terrible back."

Sakura watched as the woman was eager to swipe the money up and deposit into a box out of sight behind the counter. Then she turned to the back wall and opened up a cupboard to produce several rows of hooks. There weren't many, and most of them were empty. Like she had said, none of the open rooms were next to each other.

Hashirama took the key as soon as he could and listened only briefly to the instructions for how to find their room, before he tugged his 'sweet wife' up the stairs after him. Madara followed, close on Sakura's heels, but didn't say anything, though the veins in his neck might have suggested he had something to say.

The room was at the end of the hallway and was far away from the other doors that made Sakura think it was the sort of room that was reserved for those traveling with a little extra coin or men who thought they were important enough to deserve the extra space.

Hashirama was quick enough with the lock in the key that Sakura didn't doubt he was still just as fast with his hand seals. The door opened easily and the trio stepped up into the room, seeing for themselves exactly what the desk clerk had described, minus the cot and privacy screen. There was minimalistic decor to attract the eye as well as a bed at the end of the room that looked enormous enough for more than two people.

Madara pushed into the room and shut the door behind them all before slapping a low grade privacy seal on the seam of the door. He then whirled on Hashirama looking murderous.

"You shouldn't have done that. They're bringing up a cot, remember?" Hashirama sighed.

"What the hell was that?" Madara hissed.

"I wanted a room and you know better than I how important it is to travel with an alibi. The fact that we're not wearing our clan markings does little to help keep us inconspicuous. What are you so angry about. It's not the first time we've had to share a room or even a bed."

Sakura felt her eyebrows raise. "Oh?"

"N-not like that! Don't get any ideas," Madara blustered, fidgeting in place. "This and that are different matters, Hashirama. Don't be dense."

"I'd love to but," Hashirama raised a finger and then pointed to the door. "Housekeeping is coming. Why don't you save that seal for later."

Madara grumbled, hesitating to do what his friend suggested, likely because it was something he had been told to do. Madara hated being instructed to do anything for anyone, but he especially bristled at Hashirama's cheeky attitude.

But there were footsteps outside the door and Madara had to tear off the seat to open the door and let the staff in. Sakura and Hashirama stepped off while the cot was deposited close to the door and a pair of extendable folding screen were set up to give the rest of the room some privacy.

"Thank you, that's just lovely, thank you," Hashirama called.

He saw the help out then closed the door, sealing the three of them in before setting his own silence seal up on the door. Unlike Madara's, his seal glowed green before flashing light to the far corners of the room, protecting each connecting wall and surface from transferring sound.

Madara made a noise of displeasure under his breath that hashirama ignored. The Senju seemed to have an indomitable smile that was more a part of his face than any other feature.

"Very well then, Madara. Do you want to set up your cot for the night now or later?"

"You're not serious," Madara scoffed.

Hashirama hummed, smile still in place.

Madara's lip curled and he whirled back on his heels to sweep his arm out and gesture to the small cot roll that had been provided. "You expect me to leave you two and sleep on that?"

"Yes, that was the plan," Hashirama said, sounding as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"I'm not leaving you alone with Sakura!"

"Why not? You've been avoiding her all day. You don't care."

Madara went still and Sakura felt in her throat how her breath froze. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up while Hashirama just smiled on.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Madara's body language had never been subtle, and it was clear he was tense, avoiding eye contact and hiking his shoulders as he turned away from her specifically. It almost looked like he was about to walk out but then the doors started to spin out new curling shoots. Madara whirled on Hashirama but the smile was still there, deceptively innocent.

"We really shouldn't be leaving. It would look bad if the body guard left his charges," said Hashirama.

Madara swiped at a curling branch with his kuni."Quit it, Hashirama. Make this stuff go away."

"It's just a couple of twigs, don't worry about it. I think they help."

Madara swung again. "Dismiss them. You're overreacting."

"Me? I don't think so. I think this is an entirely appropriate reaction to the situation. You don't seem to have your mind made up, which is really disheartening to see. I thought your convictions were stronger than that, but now I see you were just full of empty talk."

"Shut up. You're talking out of your ass."

A curling branch behind Madara thickened and coiled, turning the point of its end in Madara's direction, aimed for his head. Sakura jerked into action, pulling on Hashirama knock him off his feet and disturb his concentration.

Madara noticed the point in time and cut it easily. The branch sliced into pieces as soft as butter.

"That's enough!" Sakura interjected, standing between the two of them. "I'll take the cot. The two of you need to work this out. What the hell is wrong with you two?"

"See what you did, Madara. We're the ones who are supposed to be taking care of Sakura yet you're making her take your lumpy old cot because you're selfish."

"Me? I'm not doing anything."

"You're hurting her."

"No I'm not. Sakura, we can sleep on the floor. You can take the bed. You need the best sleep out of all of us," insisted Madara.

Sakura held her face in her hands and scrunched up the skin around her eyes, hating how small she felt in the face of their arguments. When Naruto and Sai argued she smacked them both and yelled at them until they behaved, but she wasn't that person anymore, and she didn't think she could smack the gods of the shinobi world and get any positive results.

"The two of you shut up," she said, speaking lowly.

Around her the wood stopped growing and the room went silent once more. Sakura raised her face from her hands and faced Madara before reaching for the front knot of her robe, tugging it open to show off the long sleeve gray shirt underneath. Hashirama didn't speak but Madara started to bluster.

"Look at it," Sakura snapped, tugging up the bottom half of her shirt to show off unmarred skin. "Look, damn it."

Madara didn't want to, but he opened one eye from under his messy bangs and glanced her way. Hashirama stayed silent, observing without speaking or interfering.

"Look at it. There's nothing there. There's no mark, there's no scar, there's nothing to make you think I had ever been hurt her, is there?" Sakura felt all her suspicions confirm when she saw Madara's face and the look in his eyes. "That wasn't you," she whispered.

The fight and tension spilled out of Madara and his frame slackened like a balloon that had lost all its air. He barely seemed steady on his feet until Madara came up behind him and clasped his shoulder. The teasing from before easily forgotten.

Madara crossed the distance between them and grabbed at his elbows, staring up under his bangs into his face. She guided one of his hands over the smooth flesh and he nearly pulled away, but she was stronger, so she held him in place. Eventually, his fingers relaxed and spread naturally across the warm skin, fanning out.

"You didn't do anything," she insisted.

"I saw it," Madara whispered. "I saw how you were run through. It was a memory."

"But it wasn't you."

"It explained why you had been tense with me…before…at times. You were remembering that version of me, weren't you? As I grew older you remembered what I did to you in that other life."

Sakura didn't want to lie. That was exactly how it happened. Even if eventually she got over it, there were those times when she would react before she knew any better. It was a reflex that was supposed to help keep her alive. Now it was just hurting her friendships.

"That wasn't you. You are not that man. You would never do something like that to me here. I trust you. I've trusted you long before you knew any of this." She swallowed. "What else did you see?"

"All of it," Hashirama answered before Madara could. He glanced over Madara's shoulder to Sakura. "You won't go back to that world, will you?"

Sakura pulled back and Madara's hand fell away from her stomach. "I couldn't even if I wanted to. But there is nothing but death left to greet me if I should try and return. No, my home is here."

Hashirama grinned, and it was different from his smiles. "So, where does that mean we'll sleep?"

Madara's ears turned red at the tips, but he didn't look away this time. "Stupid question, there's enough room for three."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN:Ta da!
> 
> There was no Izuna or Tobirama in this chapter, but I'm sure they're doing just fine. It's been about a week since Madara and Tobirama took off with Sakura, thanks to Hashirama dragging his heels and insisting they stop to shop, rest, and just chill. (Hint:He likes being out with Sakura.) And like I promised, there was some drama, but also some fluff because shit can hit the fan later when they get back to the village. I finally got to the bed sharing scene I've been dying to write.
> 
> Gasp, there's only one bed? What ever shall we do?
> 
> It has been a while, hasn't it? I'm not going to lie, it's been just as busy as you would expect around the holidays, but I'm doing better and spending more time with family and friends and doing a lot of social healing, whatever that means? I did take a short break from this to write a holiday piece called Sugarplum that I'm super proud of. I've also been slowly releasing chapters to this high fantasy Witcher/LOTR styled AU called A Confluence of Stars with Sniper!Sakura and lots of magic. It's real easy to get me distracted with magic stories. I have a deep love for those AUs.
> 
> Thank you for being patient and waiting and letting me know you're still reading! You guys are the best!
> 
> Please review and let me know what you thought please!


	38. Chapter 38

**Under the Rabbit Moon**

 

* * *

Hashirama hid his smile behind his hand as he sat in a seat by the window and waited. Sakura was in the baths downstairs and Madara was a shadow keeping watch. She would be fine and once she was ready, the three of them could retire.

The three of them.

Hashirama almost slipped in his control and giggled out loud. He was a bundle of giddy nerves that vibrated with the prospect of what was going to happen. It really wasn't a huge deal-not like they were consummating a marriage or anything-but it was Sakura so every little thing became a big deal to him.

How many times had he dreamed of something like this? How many times had he closed his eyes to imagine opening them and seeing her first thing in the morning. The last thing he saw before he went to sleep and the first thing he saw when he woke…

It didn't bother him in the least that Madara would also be there. The two were friends and he wasn't so old fashioned that he couldn't understand some of the more radical practices in matriarchal clans. It made sense in such a dangerous world where husbands went off and didn't come home from war. Clans needed to survive.

He remembered the argument he and Madara had, had before Sakura fell ill. The pair of them had been of one mind with only slightly different agendas. Madara was an Uchiha who remembered the old ways and loved his devious brother too much to deny the boy anything.

With his own Senju family, Hashirama knew that Tobirama wouldn't want to touch or feel or love Sakura the same way, as him.

While Hashirama felt sick with the desire to pick her up and kiss her deeply, Tobirama would have liked nothing more than to sit next to her at the table and talk. Maybe on the most sensual of nights he would dare to hold her hand, but Hashirama doubted his brother was capable of more than that. He didn't mind the idea of sharing Sakura with Tobirama.

Madara was just as much Hashirama's brother as Tobirama was. And it was true that Madara was a bit more sensual-if not just as embarrassed about admitting it-but when he considered it Hashirama realized he didn't mind it as well. If Sakura was agreeable to it then he would be too. Izuna…he could forgive. He didn't like the idea of having to share Sakura's affections with Madara's more politically minded brother, but he could live with it if that meant Sakura was happy. That's what it came down to. Whatever she wanted.

He heard the footsteps and went tense like a loaded bow string. He knew it was her, the chakra matched, but he couldn't help but hold his breath.

Sakura pushed open the door and caught it with her heel before sliding it back behind her, shutting herself in. Her hair was still slightly damp around her shoulders and her eyelashes were thick with moisture from the baths. She had a towel in her hands she used to dry off the ends of her hair.

"Is Madara not back yet?" she asked, glancing about.

"He's running perimeter. I expect to hear him slip in soon since you're back." Hashirama chuckled and pushed himself up out of his chair to approach her. "He doesn't trust me alone with you I think."

Sakura smacked him in the face with her towel and he staggered, caught off guard. "Liar," Sakura easily said. "Madara trusts you more than anyone else in this world. Don't make fun of him in his absence."

"I wasn't!" Hashirama whined. Sakura's dull expression made his shoulders drop. "O-only a little."

"Ha, you think I wouldn't know you two better after these many years. Don't make me laugh," Sakura chuckled, returning the towel to her hair.

"Here."

Hashirama reached for the towel and turned her around so he could drape her hair over her shoulders and down her back. He sectioned the hair into parts he dried individually before running his fingers through the strands to better air out.

He didn't miss the way she seemed to melt when he played with her hair. He loved working with it and knew that if she was anything like him, she would love someone tending to her hair so gently. It was one of the reasons he chose to grow his own hair out.

"You're pretty good at this. I yank through my tangles too much when I do my own hair," Sakura admitted.

"Don't do that, just come to me and I'll fix it for you. I like preparing long hair."

"I used to keep it short all the time. I can't remember how to do any of the braids on myself aside from the off the shoulder ones."

"I remember seeing that. It was very short, wasn't it?"

Sakura hummed, closing her eyes and rolling her shoulders back in blind comfort. His hands picked at parts of her hair that made her scalp tingle. It had been a long time since someone tended to her like this.

"I wanted long hair when I was younger. As a girl I had heard the boy I had a crush on liked girls with long hair, so I grew it out. It wasn't the best motivation and looking back I can see how stupid I was at that age."

"And that is why you chose to cut it?"

"Not at first-it was a choice made for me." Sakura then gave a short description of her encounter with a trio of enemy nin that forced her hand. She recalled the moment she sacrificed her long hair to gain some advantage and save herself as well as her friends that day. When she was done the room was still.

"You cared a great deal for your teammates."

"They were my family. I loved them all so much."

"Even now?"

"No I miss them. Watching them die was the hardest thing I ever had to endure. Devouring Kaguya was worth it if that meant I could avenge their memory. It's funny how that all turned out."

Hashirama reached the end of her braid and tied it off with a band from his wrist, looping it several times before letting it drop against her back. She turned once she felt it finished.

Hashirama watched her with a guarded expression before opening his mouth. "If you could go back to that day, that time, would you take the chance to see them and fight alongside them once more?"

Sakura's expression shuttered. "Please, don't ask me that. I feel too much obligation to say no, in spite of all the truth in the world and all the happiness I found here, I can't forgive myself for-for that day."

Hashirama reached for her elbows and held her there, tugging her closer to him. "We saw it, there wasn't anything more you could do. There's nothing to forgive, Sakura."

"I did all I could but it wasn't enough. I know that going back wouldn't make a difference." Sakura's expression turned bitter even as she tried to smile. "You realized that right? Almost everything that made me great to you was something I got from Kaguya. I was a god only because of what  _she_  could do."

"Maybe, but I doubt that's completely true. You were a medic long before her, and you were able to stand at the end of the war beside the strongest in your army. You survived when they did not. You faced down a god and came out stronger for it. Don't discredit your abilities so quickly."

Sakura watched Hashirama, eyes roaming his face in search of something he couldn't guess. "…Thank you," she finally said. "When you say it, I don't know why, but I believe it better then when I try to convenience myself."

"That sounds familiar," he laughed. "I'm glad I could help. Now, as our resident medical expert would you say more rest is in order, or should we push it and stay up all night talking?"

"You want to talk but you know better, so don't try and shift the blame onto me." Sakura reached up and flicked his nose. "I'm not the only one who would benefit from some sleep. Where did Madara go?"

As if the sound of his name was a summon, there was a flickering burst of chakra that deactivated the seals on the door long enough for Madara to step in before Hashirama's seal work pushed back up and closed over the entrance point. Like Sakura's, Madara's hair was damp at the edges and a towel hung around his shoulders.

"Is Hashirama the only one who didn't clean up?" Madara asked, wrinkling his nose.

"I washed earlier this morning before we were even on the road. Don't you remember all your complaining?"

Madara rolled his eyes before leaning down, closer to Sakura. "He's still a neat freak, I'm surprised he didn't take advantage of the baths here. You smell nice at least."

Sakura hummed and reached up to pinch on of Madara's damp locks. "Same could be said for you. Do you need your hair braided?"

The question seemed to take Madara by surprise, as he straightened and looked from Sakura with her neatly braided tail, to Hashirama, and then back at Sakura. His ears started to turn red at the tips.

Hashirama sighed loudly, reaching for a bundle of clothes left at the foot of the large bed. "If you're going to complain about it, I'll go take a quick bath and be back before you two go to bed. Don't get the pillows wet with your damp hair."

"And there it is," Madara muttered under his breath, watching Hashirama trot out, disturbing the seal only enough for a quick exit before it all returned to normal working order.

"Here," Sakura said, letting her voice go soft as she stood next to the bed. "Sit here and let me do your hair for you. With it so long and thick it will take a while before it is dried."

"I don't know why Hashirama insists on waiting. I've never cared before." Madara grumbled but he ducked his head and approached the bed beside her to take up a seat as instructed. He didn't lean away when Sakura reached for his hair.

"I suppose it's just his own way of caring. I'm sorry if I tug, all I have are my fingers," Sakura said.

"It's okay. Like I said, I've never cared before."

"That's such a shame. Both you and Hashirama have such nice long hair. Yours is especially thick and long. There's so much here to work with."

Madara swallowed. "Su-sure."

Sakura didn't say anything more as she busied herself with parting through the tangled places in his hair. Even though he said he didn't care or take special care of it, his hair was healthy and didn't tangle as bad as she feared it would. She was able to comb it through with just her fingers and her patience.

Like Hashirama had with her own hair, Sakura began to pull smaller strands together and cross them over each other in loose but organized braids that progressively pulled up more and more of his hair. Taking it apart piece by piece helped it dry faster, and she also used the towel to keep his shoulders and neck from getting too wet.

She noticed right away how Madara's broad shoulders shifted down and eased as she worked through his hair. She recognized the reason for it as well, as she had just been on the receiving end of Hashirama's spoiling. It wasn't necessary, but she made sure she ran her hands through his hair a few more times, keeping her nails close to his scalp where her fingers could massage the skin and drag out his spoiling.

When she was done and his hair tied off at the end, he seemed to snap attention, like a solider on duty being caught sleeping during their shift. He turned swiftly and stood, almost backing up. More than just his ears were red and flushed.

"Th-thank you, Sakura. That was-I appreciate the effort. I feel better now that my hair is taken care of." Madara coughed and tried to force out a smile. "I have to learn how to braid better so I can return the service."

"It is nice, isn't it?" Sakura giggled. "I felt spoiled when Hashirama did mine."

"It's okay to be spoiled every once in a while. Let me see his work."

Madara reached for her and Sakura happily spun back around so he could see the rest of her braid and how the whole of her hair came together. He tugged at a stray curl, too short to stay pleated, and tried to pin it behind her ear, but it slipped free too easily.

"It's fine, you have some stray hairs too."

Sakura touched his hand and he dropped the curl, nearly jerking back, only for her hand to catch his wrist and hold him in place. Even without Kaguya she was strong, stronger than the both of them, and Madara knew better than to try fighting her hold-not that he wanted to.

"Don't be so jumpy," Sakura pouted. "You said you were going to stop avoiding me."

"Sorry, you just make me nervous."

"You never used to get nervous around me."

"Ha!" Madara laughed. "That's a joke. I've always been nervous, you just never could tell because I was able to hide it better. But you're right about me being a bit jumpier, so I'll apologize. I don't mean to treat you differently."

"You know I'm not afraid of you, right?" Sakura breathed.

Then before she could think better of herself, she turned his hand over and kissed the inside of his palm before letting him go. Madara's eyes went hazy and his lids lowered as he ducked his head to hide how red it turned.

"Don't tease me like that," he breathed. "Your past…Kaguya…none of that's the reason for how I feel right now. Do you understand?"

It was Sakura's turn to go still. She started to pull back away but Madara reached for her arms and caught her elbows. It wasn't a strong hold, and she could have broken from it easily if she tried, but the contact was enough to make her go still.

Madara tugged himself closer and leaned down to kiss the corner of her mouth, not wholly on the lips, but also not on the cheek. It was as close as he dared without her consent. When he pulled away his wintery breath was what she breathed in.

"You've made me nervous for a long time and that will never change, no matter what you do or how you change. Izuna's already told you how he felt, hasn't he?"

Mutely Sakura nodded once. Her face was too hot and too read to bother with a verbal response. Her eyes were glued to his face, watching for what he would do next.

"You're not going to stay immortal after this, right? Hashirama guessed it as well, but now we know for sure. None of us are kids any longer and I know that's not how you see us right now. Right?"

He leaned in a fraction more and Sakura gasped, nearly pulling away as the heat only built up. It was enough to make Madara grin and hum.

"I thought so. You might be worried about strength or skill, but right now maybe you should be more concerned with how you're going to juggle our admiration."

"O-our?" Sakura's question was more of a squeak than a word as her voice pitched high.

"You thought my brother was the only one? Not by a long shot. I'm going to get yelled at for getting ahead of myself here, but I don't care. I'd like to pursue you, court you for a future partnership. I'll not express my feelings for the birds to hear them and forget them. I'd like to try and win your heart over."

He then took a clear step backwards, creating space between them Sakura could breath in.

"And…now is when you chose to tell me this?" Sakura asked, sounding like she was close to choking on her ow breath.

"Just thought I'd give you something more to worry about. It looked like you didn't have enough on your mind."

His sarcasm came easy and it was enough to make her laugh. "Don't surprise me like that. I'm in no condition to give you-or even your brother an answer. No matter what I say someone is going to get hurt so let me-let me just try and think about it on my own for a bit."

He watched her a moment more before nodding. "Or maybe no one has to get hurt. Izuna and I wouldn't mind sharing."

Sakura laughed, tossing the pillow closest to her hand at his face. "Don't joke."

Madara caught the pillow and tossed it back onto the bed. "It's not a joke. Our ancestors did it all the time. Multiple spouses for the matriarchs meant stronger children."

Sakura ignored how hot her face felt. "Isn't that-wouldn't that be the other way around?" More wives means more children?"

"That's a quality vs quantity issue. The Uchiha clan didn't want cannon fodder. Ask any of our relatives and they'd tell you the same thing. It's only been the past two or three generations since the switch over. My dad remembered his grandfather telling him about it."

Sakura had another pillow in hand but she couldn't find the strength in her arms to throw it at Madara. "Oh my kami, you're serious." When he didn't laugh at her, she dropped the pillow back onto the bed. "You-have you spoke with Izuna about-about  _this_?"

"And Hashirama, but that's another matter."

"Hashirama?!" Sakura shrieked. "Why would you say something like that to him?"

Madara's cheeks were flush but he didn't let his embarrassment or his feelings keep him from speaking. "I already told you I wouldn't be the last, didn't I? He was also… interested in an open relationship on your end if it was your choice."

Sakura fell onto the edge of the bed. "I can't believe we're having this discussion right here and now. Ughhh." Sakura rubbed her face with the heels of her hands. "Is this what guys talk about when it's just men around? Weird relationship ideas?"

"I mean, sometimes, yeah." Madara rounded the bed to sit down next to her, leaving enough room between them for her to feel comfortable. "But it's not as unusual as you might think."

"Madara," Sakura moaned. "I don't even know where to begin. You're talking about…  _sharing_  me, with your brother and then with your best friend. Wouldn't you get jealous of each other?"

"Absolutely, but that is a far better resolution to the situation than a straight rejection. And aside from that, if it were something you agreed to, I'd know you love me and I'd care enough for Izuna and Hashirama to let them experience that same love."

"This is a lot," Sakura breathed out.

"I know. I also understand if it's not something you can fully devote your time to considering. A lot has happened to you and if you want to use this as a helpful distraction go ahead. If you'd rather wait to think about it later that's just as good. Whatever you think is best for you."

"I get the feeling this wasn't a fresh development in your feelings." Sakura lowered her head into her hands and let her shoulders sag as she tried to think straight enough to form the words she needed to. "All the things you've shared with me just now, it sounds like this was something premeditated."

"That wouldn't be wrong to say."

"What about Hashirama?"

"What about me?"

Sakura jerked upright, surprised to see the Senju in question standing a few paces from the bed. Her face turned even hotter at the unsurprised look on his face. A moment later she realized that as long as his seal was in effect around the room, the only person immune to the noise canceling was the one with matching chakra; Hashirama himself.

"Just now-that-did you hear it?" Sakura's voice was quiet and rushed, sounding a but too much like a mess.

Hashirama glared briefly over her head at Madara before returning his attention back to Sakura. Instead of answering right away he approached her bedside and knelt down so that he would have to look up at her.

"You're probably more shook up about this than you need to be. Madara and I have discussed it before and what he said is true. I love you as well and would like for us to be together."

"Hashirama, the Senju aren't matriarchal like the Uchiha were. How could you?"

"Something like that doesn't matter.  _You_  matter. What do you want, and what do you feel is best for you? If you want only Madara or only Izuna or hell, only me, then that's how it can go. If your heart can't settle then consider what Madara spoke of. It's not something I would hate so long as you are happy and I get to share my love with you."

Sakura covered her face with her hands and sat still for a long while, saying nothing while Madara and Hashirama waited patiently on either side. After a few more deep breaths Sakura dropped her hands from her face and exhaled.

"I think you're honest about this," she said.

"Completely," Madara answered.

"Absolutely," said Hashirama.

Sakura nodded once more. "It's still a lot for me to think about and consider. I can't give you an answer here and I can't promise you I'd be able to give you an answer anytime soon. I'm not in the right state for that. This is very new to me."

Madara nodded, silently accepting her words while Hashirama reached for one of her hands.

"Take as much time as you need to realize the truth in your heart. Whatever it is, we will listen. But consider tonight an opportunity for a…trial run of what we would be preposing."

"Hashirama?" Madara quipped, looking frazzled.

Sakura swallowed. "A what?"

"I would imagine a relationship much like this situation." He gestured to the bed and then to the three of them. "Its not like we were planning on doing something else and I'm not suggesting we do anything more than sleep, but think about it as something Madara and I would want more of in the future."

"Three people sleeping in the same bed?" Sakura dully summarized.

"Or we could build pillow forts and take our personal bubbles to bed. Whatever makes you the most comfortable."

"I don't want to play with your feelings."

"You wouldn't be doing that. We suggested it-sorry,  _I_  suggested it with Madara's nonverbal support. And like you said, this was something we were thinking about for a long while now. It's not some overnight whim. There's no woman in my life as treasured as you, Sakura."

"The same would be true of me as well," Madara added. "It's been true all this time."

Sakura glanced between the pair of men and then looked back at the bed, wide enough for three grown adults.  _Adults_. Hashirama and Madara were both grown adult men who were physically older than her at this stage in their life. They weren't children anymore.

"What if I change my mind in the middle of the night?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"Then we change our behavior and build up that pillow fort. Your word is law," Madara interjected. "We wouldn't do something you didn't feel safe with."

"I feel  _safe_  with you both I just…I don't want to disrespect your feelings."

Hashirama leaned over and kissed the side of her face before pulling away enough to show off his smile. "You couldn't if you tried. No one has been more mindful of my feelings this whole time. Don't worry about us. What you say goes."

Sakura bit her bottom lip and then nodded. "Then it's late enough and I'm tired. I…I'm going to bed. You don't need to build pillow forts unless you want them for yourselves." Sakura started to turn around towards the bed but stopped and twisted back to face the boys. "And keep the hand wandering to a minimum. Nothing inappropriate."

"Is holding your hand appropriate?" Madara asked.

"…Sure."

"Nothing under the clothes?"

Sakura shook her head. "No thank you."

"Got it." Hashirama smiled wide before standing and reaching for the covers to pull back. "Then if that's that, we can all retire, can't we?"

Madara followed the pair in, taking up one of the outer edges while Hashirama took the other. Sakura was safe between the pair of them, curled up around her pillow facing Madara. From behind Hashirama hesitantly stretched an arm out over her side in a sort of hug while Madara reached for one of her hands to hold. She felt both of their legs brush up against hers beneath the covers, but it wasn't uncomfortable.

"Goodnight," Hashirama whispered over her shoulder. He kissed the back of her neck and then pulled away.

"Sweet dreams," Madara added, squeezing her hand once before closing his eyes.

The room was dark without the lights and Sakura felt sleep not far off As nervous and agitated as she had been, sandwiched between the two men all she could feel was safe. She was safe between her boys. Safe and loved.

"Sleep well," she whispered to the dark before sleep came for her too.

* * *

It wasn't a full day of travel before they were back at the borders of their village. Hashirama looked like his brother and Madara mimicked Izuna. It was the perfect cover to trick anyone who might have thought their Hokage were fakes.

Thanks to one of Madara's summoned hawks both Tobirama and Izuna knew to meet up with them at the Senju household for an update on their mission. It was the safest place for them to speak without being overheard.

The pair of them were already inside, their ceremonial robes tossed over a nearby couch and chair respectively. Izuna pushed past Madara and reached for Sakura as soon as the doors slid open, dashing to her first. He fell on her in a hug that would have snapped her in half if she had been less of a person.

"You're back, you're alright!" he cried, spinning with her in his arms. "You're safe again."

Sakura grabbed him back in a hug of her own, bending her head down into the crook of his neck. She inhaled and smelled the expensive oils and fresh soap that made her think of him.

"I'm back," she laughed into his shoulder, letting him cry out on her while Tobirama watched with a fond expression.

Hardly a minute later and Sakura felt the familiar tingle of the youngest Senju brother rapidly approaching. Though he had been busy with his own missions, Kawarama had heard of her departure and was finally back in the village to welcome her home. The doors to the back of the room rolled open and Hashirama stood to the side to make way for his youngest brother.

"Mom!" Kawarama laughed through his tears, running up to her and ignoring Izuna who moved aside but didn't let go completely. "You came back!"

"I'm home, I'm home," she laughed though her own happy tears. "I'm finally home guys."

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN:Ta da!
> 
> This chapter almost had a sort of scary ending, but I cut it so it didn't leave you all on another cliffhanger. You get a happy chapter with some very serious conversations being shared for the first time. You have NO IDEA how nervous I was writing Sakura's talk with Madara. I'm satisfied with how it came out but it was still a challenge.
> 
> I'm so sorry for how long this story has been put on hold. It's the longest gap to date and I'll try my best to make sure it doesn't happen again. The months flew by way too fast if you ask me. It was already spring before I knew it! Yikes. Thank you for all the wonderful review, comments, and encouragement for this project. I really appreciate it. Also the fanart has been humbling, thank you for the art as well!
> 
> In case you didn't know...I've also been releasing chapters to a short side fic called Jealous Gods that's an ItaSaku Dishonored AU style fic with a dark, possessive Itachi. That's finished finally if you want to go check it out.  
> I've also been writing this high fantasy Witcher/LOTR styled AU called A Confluence of Stars with Sniper!Sakura and lots of magic. It's real easy to get me distracted with magic stories. I have a deep love for those AUs.
> 
> Thank you for being patient and waiting and letting me know you're still reading! You guys are the best!
> 
> Please review and let me know what you thought please!

**Author's Note:**

> Sakura time-skip back to the warring era and then the founding era. This will be a sort of slow burn kind of fic with no real pairings until later on. The world and the characters come first.
> 
> For fun, because let's be honest, everyone and their mother has done a time skip or back in time or time warp sort of story. This is nothing new, but I wanted to try my hand at it. This has been done at FF.Net, but I'm uploading it over here as well.


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